Reviews
Women in the Valley of the Kings
One of my favorite books as a child was C.W. Ceram’s Gods’ Graves and Scholars. His aim, described in his foreword, was “to portray the dramatic qualities of archaeology, its human side.” And at some level he succeeded admirably. Ceram is largely responsible for my lifelong fascination with archaeology. It was only when Kathleen Sheppard’s…
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What’s her Name: A History of the World in 80 Lost Women
What’s Her Name: A History of the World in 80 Lost Women is exactly the book I would have expected from the creators of the popular What’sHerName podcast. Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson not only tell the stories of forgotten women with their trademark combination of wit, enthusiasm and rock-solid research, they use those stories…
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In which I finally review Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science—and the World
Journalist Rachel Swaby’s Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science—and the World is the source of one of my favorite descriptions of the work I do as a writer of women’s history: “revealing a hidden history of the world.” Swaby was inspired to write her collective biography of groundbreaking women scientists by an obituary which appeared…
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