Emily B. (LibraryEm42) reviewed She Captains, Heroines and Hellions of the Sea on + 26 more book reviews
The topic is interesting, but the book is not as well written or organized as it could have been. I think the author was trying to tell some stories in parallel to show their similarities and maybe increase tension, but the transitions were so weak that it just came across as disjointed. Other stories barely seemed to fit the theme, like the ones which mention female captives who were enslaved and women who kept the family financially solvent while their husbands were away in passing while focusing on the male relatives' adventures at sea. They hardly sound like the she-captains we were promised. Especially the random, soon-forgotten slaves.
The author also torpedoed her credibility in matters of historical research right in the beginning when she said that the Amazons were probably real because the Greeks depicted them so often. By that logic, so were centaurs and nymphs and the Olympian gods! So for the rest of the book, I never knew when I could trust the stories she told. If this were just a book of neat stories, that would be fine, but it was supposed to be history.
The author also torpedoed her credibility in matters of historical research right in the beginning when she said that the Amazons were probably real because the Greeks depicted them so often. By that logic, so were centaurs and nymphs and the Olympian gods! So for the rest of the book, I never knew when I could trust the stories she told. If this were just a book of neat stories, that would be fine, but it was supposed to be history.
Mary D. (readstoclem) reviewed She Captains, Heroines and Hellions of the Sea on + 118 more book reviews
Very readable history of women on the sea with a scholarly bibliography. A book for both pleasure and serious research.
From the dust cover:
Long before women had the right to vote, earn money, or have lives of their own, "she captains" bold women distinguished for courageous enterprise on the high seas- thrilled and terrorized their shipmates, performed acts of valor, and pirated with the best of their male counterparts.
These astonishing women were drawn to the ocean's beauty - and its danger. In her inimitable yarn-spinning way, award-winning historian Joan Druett reveals what life was like for these mariners infamously possessed of the "bodies of women and the souls of men." Irish raider Grace "Grania" O'Malley-sometimes called "the bald Grania" for her boyishly short hair - commanded three galleys and two hundred fighting men. Female pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read were wanted by the law. Armed to the teeth with cutlasses and pistols, they inspired awe and admiration as they swaggered around in fancy hats and expensive finery, killing many a man who cowered cravenly before them.
From the warrior queens of the sixth century B.C. to the women shipowners influential in opening the Northwest Passage, here is a cast of characters whose boldness and bravado will capture the imagination. Druett's rollicking rendition of their sea stories makes She Captains a history that is "great fun, exhilarating as a cruise on a windjammer, and no Dramamine required" (Newsday).
Long before women had the right to vote, earn money, or have lives of their own, "she captains" bold women distinguished for courageous enterprise on the high seas- thrilled and terrorized their shipmates, performed acts of valor, and pirated with the best of their male counterparts.
These astonishing women were drawn to the ocean's beauty - and its danger. In her inimitable yarn-spinning way, award-winning historian Joan Druett reveals what life was like for these mariners infamously possessed of the "bodies of women and the souls of men." Irish raider Grace "Grania" O'Malley-sometimes called "the bald Grania" for her boyishly short hair - commanded three galleys and two hundred fighting men. Female pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read were wanted by the law. Armed to the teeth with cutlasses and pistols, they inspired awe and admiration as they swaggered around in fancy hats and expensive finery, killing many a man who cowered cravenly before them.
From the warrior queens of the sixth century B.C. to the women shipowners influential in opening the Northwest Passage, here is a cast of characters whose boldness and bravado will capture the imagination. Druett's rollicking rendition of their sea stories makes She Captains a history that is "great fun, exhilarating as a cruise on a windjammer, and no Dramamine required" (Newsday).
