Shoot Like A Girl Is A Compliment

  As anyone who’s been hanging out here in the Margins knows, I’m working on a global history of women warriors.  I’m looking at examples from across the globe, from the ancient world through the twentieth century.  Looking at their stories in the context of women in the modern American military–or maybe looking at women in…

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Isabella of Castile: Europe’s First Great Queen

A while back I reviewed Sarah Gristwood’s Game of Queens, a wonderful account of the powerful women who ruled (directly or indirectly) in sixteenth century Europe. Giles Tremlett’s masterful biography of Isabella of Castile is in some ways the prequel to Gristwood’s account. Tremlett sums up the theme of his book in its sub-title: Europe’s…

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Shin-Kickers From History: Olaudah Equiano

Most accounts of the slave trade were written by slave traders, or by people dedicated to abolishing the slave trade. Few accounts were written by the slaves themselves. One important exception is The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, published in 1789. Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in what is now Nigeria. When he was…

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