Janina Ramirez

I'm coming to realize I am not the audience for these books, as much as I whine and cry and try to make them be.

Femina is not so much a "new" history of medieval women's lives as it is a series of nine biographies of exceptional women who lived in the European Middle Ages. There are much fuller negative reviews on this that I recommend perusing, but broadly speaking, this book offers nothing new to readers familiar with the period. The author's thesis is the laziest of pop-feminist history: "Did you know... Women did stuff back then?" Anyone who seriously believes women did nothing exceptional for a thousand years is so far gone, maybe it's a blessing that this book exists.

Anyway, this book reminded me of everything I hate about the current trend of popular feminist frameworks of texts. Femina reminded me of the let-down that was The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society—A pop-history book promising to elucidate the reader on something much larger, complicated, and nuanced than the author is either able or willing to do. I always find it funny that the authors of books like this remind the reader over and over again how rich the tapestry of time is but cannot seem to go deeper than the surface-level critique their advertising promises. When will they truly take to heart that history cannot be boiled down to pithy feminist takes? When will (usually female) social historians give their readers something to really chew on? Why do I feel like women's-interest history always believe their readers are complete fucking dolts?

To summarize, I don't think it's possible to extract more than Ramírez simple thesis when you look at only nine people, and nine very, very wealthy and powerful people at that. It's interesting, sure, and these women absolutely deserve to be in the casual historical canon as the author argues, but... It is in no way a "new history," you know? That would entail much, much more than Ramírez is willing to put in.

Well... The book obviously strikes a cord though: look at those high reviews! I would only recommend this to people who know close to nothing on this period, and obviously only as a supplement to a more historiographical sound or primary source texts. I'm just annoyed at sexism and its over-production of limp-wristed non-fiction texts.

On to new pop history I will inevitably hate...… (mehr)

Goddess: 50 Goddesses, Spirits, Saints and Other Female Figures Who Have Shaped Belief—An Early Reader Review—The first thing to be noted is that this book is beautiful--the paper is thick, the color is rich and the illustrations capture the flavor of the various cultures. Each character is given a brief two-page coverage, so it is easy to read a few pages at a time and then pick this book up again later without feeling that you may have missed something. The organization is handled in such a way so as to keep the readers’ interest fresh, and the balance of subjects selected is very wide—there are some that are known universally, some that may have been heard of but the details of their stories are made clear, and some that are not well known at all. The entries are brief vignettes that help the reader decide which of these subjects one might want to learn more about from other sources. The author has done a very good job keeping the essence of each character while avoiding some of the “vicious rumors” circulating about some of them in terms of romantic conduct and/or destructive behaviors and even how the questionable aspects of their existence was important. This is a great introduction to the world’s rich diversity and a review of how others may see our own culture.… (mehr)

If I had to sum up this book in one word, I wouldn't hesitate to choose which word: gorgeous. The vibrant illustrations make you want to explore every detail on every page and keep turning the pages to see more. This book is worth getting for the lovely illustrations alone.

But the illustrations aren't the only thing the book has going for it. The brief descriptions of the female goddesses, spirits, and other religious figures are interesting. If you're not familiar with the personal already, you'll get a brief description of who she is, what role she played, and how she influenced the religious practices in the society she comes from.

Readers will likely recognize a few of the names such as Mary the mother of Jesus and Eve from Christian beliefs and get to find out about feminine figures from across the world they hadn't heard from before.

Overall, it's a great addition to any bookshelf for readers young and old.… (mehr)

What a treat to get this in the mail. It is a gorgeous book featuring 50 goddesses, spirits, and saints from different global belief systems and regions of the world. The book is organized by topics: ruling and guiding, new life, war and death, love and wisdom, and animals and nature. Each two page panel features a goddess, with a beautifully illustrated god and smaller illustrations to help readers connect the words with the text.

The text is modern and easy for children to grasp and understand. I also appreciate the author incorporated current events into the text -- such as in write-up of Pele (Hawai`i) there is a line about Mauna Kea and a proposed telescope that would desecrate Pele's home.

This would be a great book for an upper elementary class project on learning how to do research.

One thing missing from the book is a pronunciation guide for the goddesses. But this could be an extended learning exercise for students to research if it is used in a classroom setting.… (mehr)