This introduction to the book says it all: "We're finding it quite tiring that rather than being celebrated as heroes, leaders, and innovators, women are often depicted - and treated - as secondary characters in history. They may be love interests, damsels in distress, sassy best friends, mothers, mistresses, or martyrs - but they rarely exist, and anything except footnotes to the stories of the men whose lives and achievements we're told actually matter. But a closer look at history tells a different story."

The stories of the women in this book are fascinating and the portraits of each of the identified women are beautiful. They each deserve to be read and appreciated for what they have accomplished. My only complaint is that the message of women being erased from history is carried a little too heavy-handed throughout each story. This point was clearly and wonderfully made in the introduction. Afterward, I just wanted to learn about each of these amazing women but each entry also gave a bit of a lecture that slightly decreased my enjoyment. Despite this I still think it is a worthwhile and entertaining read.

History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don't Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian; Ebony Adams was interesting enough while I was reading but ultimately mostly forgettable and a skim read most of it.

Because of it's informative yet unengaging writing, this book may be best suited as an addendum text for young people who would like to learn about exemplary women throughout time and the world.

This is a difficult book to read on my Kindle. I am therefore not going to post a review. However, I know this is an excellent book and will recommend it.

This book highlights women who aren't typically covered in history class. Great resource for adults and teens, so I'm excited to add it to my classroom.

Anita doesn't disappoint! This book is great for older and younger women, it only wants for a more comprehensive volume in the future!

Interesting choices for which lives to explain and explore! - the choices are explained in the afterword. A bibliography is included, The illustrations are more interruptions than useful, but possibly they would be appreciated by a younger audience.

A book that is full of woman power and love. A great inspiration for girls of all ages. It is a great look into the women that we don't often see in our history books.

This was awesome, as it chronicled the lives of women throughout history who broke gender barriers across all manner of disciplines (from science to the arts to war and crime!) The illustrations were lovely, the stand out quotes were nice for those wishing to browse to find their favorites to read, but I found the descriptions of many of the women lacking - I wanted to know so much more! I get that some of the older ladies are hard to research, and I get that they were limited by space but I almost with they had limited the number of women included so as to provide much more detail! Also, a few times there was still the hint of "O.M.G. can you believe she did this despite being female?!?" Like, the whole point of the book is women breaking through stereotypes and proving themselves, so can we just not have the surprise?

Tired of damsels in distress? Ready for some rebels, artists, scholars, amazons, and even villains? Then this is the book for you. Some of the women profiled within these pages may be familiar - Margaret Thatcher, Annie Easley - but others you have probably never heard of. How about Wang Zhenyi, a poet from the Qing Dynasty? She was born in 1768 and studied everything from astronomy to martial arts. In 1994 a crater on the planet Venus was named for her. "When you look into the night sky, seek out Venus and be dazzled by the celestial body and the woman who saw the stars and felt the wonder of the universe."

If stargazing isn't your style, perhaps you prefer the arts? Maria Tallchief and her brilliant performance as Ballanchine's Firebird may be more to your tastes. The first Native American prima ballerina explained her achievements by saying, "You do what you have to do, and when you must, then you do a little more." Or there is Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote The Tale of Genji around the year 1000, and it is considered the first modern novel. She "filled her novel with multifaceted female characters who provided a rare glimpse into how it felt to be a woman in her world."

After something more aggressive? What about Khutulun of Mongolia (born around 1260), who was even mentioned in the journals of Marco Polo? He was impressed with the way she would ride into battle with her father's troops and could capture an enemy "as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird." She was also a champion wrestler and refused to marry anyone who could not defeat her. There are also tales of a female pirate who commanded an entire fleet, women who were directors and producers in the early days of Hollywood, and those who stood against the practices of lynching during Jim Crow.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in women's history or feminism. I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

I am super-impressed with the homework done on this book. I love the layout/art style and the life-like artist-renderings of the women profiled. (The visuals are a strong reminder of the variety of cultures and eras represented.)

One thing I found notable (that some readers will be thankful for, and some will find off-putting) is the type of telling. The language used to describe the progression of the action and the events of the women’s lives feels a combination of matter-of-fact, marginally defensive, and proud.

All of that is understandable considering the context of what the authors are writing about, and the world they know is watching (reading) their work as intersectional, feminist activists. Adversarial watchers are not the target audience of this book, but the authors have been standing up under their critisism for enough years that the (very?) precise tone of the profiles seems almost inevitable.

In a few places, the sad endings of the lives of these extraordinary women are used to call attention to a perpetuating pattern of minimization or abandonment of women that has not been left in the past, but there is remarkably little sermonizing.

It is clear the authors chose women of power and influence to write about, and that many are chosen because they are actively admired, but very little external (present-day) praise is explicitly layered into the stories. More, the authors talk about the personal convictions of the individual women, and the personal integrity required in their unique contexts.

I think these authors are trying (and succeeding) to provide a work that is not glorifying as much as it is revealing. Like the title says, women don’t often make it into history books, and the goal here it to close some of that gap. Such a job is best done by a survey of types, people, places and times, and I think this book succeeds admirably.

My thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the chance to review a digital copy.

I didn't finish this book because the format of the ARC made it difficult to read.

From what I did read of the book, I liked that it follows women from so many backgrounds. The stories were very intersectional and discussed women from different countries, religions, and sexualities. I think this was well written and not too dense.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

This is a harder review to write because the formatting and display of the e-ARC was mixed up in places. So, it is a little hard to determine my thoughts on the writing, but I still have a favorable opinion of this book.

This isn't the first women's history nonfiction I've read -- heck this is actually the 3rd this year. It has been a popular year for forgotten women of history. Yet, all three books have different writing styles, categories, and even women to talk about. There is of course some crossover, but surprisingly, this book only contained about 4 I've read about before, and that might be because it is so difficult for English-speakers to learn about or be able to translate texts from other languages.

I like how a picture is included with the text and the highlighted passages were usually ones I would have wanted noticed. Also, I love how a section for bad women of history is included as well, and explained why we need to recognize women of all different areas of history, the good and the evil.
I think this book handled issues well and it felt like they did try to branch out from Western history.

This is another book I think people should read just so they can learn about forgotten people of history.

I love any book that she's light on remarkable women. The portraits were beautifully done and really helped me picture the women but what I loved the most was that there were different women spotlighted! Sometimes books show off the same women which hey, I love Rosa Parks and Susan B. Anthony just as.much as anyone, but I love reading about other women.

Interesting read!
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Feiwel and Friends for the opportunity to read and review History vs Women: The Defiant Lives That They Don’t Want You To Know by Anita Sarkeesian and Ebony Adams!
The chapter titles are Reckless Rebels, Revelatory Scholars, Ruthless Villains, Restless Artists, and Relentless Amazons! The chapter titles made me even more interested in the book! The introduction got me hyped up by a few historical facts about women, such as a Japanese woman invented the novel and a Chinese woman ruled a fleet of 400 pirate ships. This impressive work of history and the women who created it is a gem to read! From a civil rights activist to a prime minister, each story captured my interest and I will purchase this book for the library for research and as a great read, 5 stars!

I received a free copy from The Galley in exchange for an honest review. History vs women the different lives that they don't want you to know about is the latest in a trend in novels primarily targeted towards Elementary Middle School girls that seek to highlight the accomplishments of women throughout history. This book highlights 25 women that history that have been largely ignored in the history books the authors admit in the and afterward that there is a biased towards White and Western figures because of their own limitations in language that being said it is always important to be able to introduce more powerful and strong women. There parts of the story that were hard for me to read it but that was more of an issue with the digital copy rather than the book itself. Well not necessarily appropriate for older readers this is definitely a great introduction for elementary middle school girls into what it means to be a strong and powerful woman in different fields.

You do what you have to do, and when you must, then you do a little more- Maria Tallchief

History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don't Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian; Ebony Adams aims to introduce readers to a range of dynamic women across many different races, countries, time periods, and classes. I can wholeheartedly say they achieve this goal. There were a few names in there that I had previous known about but the majority I sadly previously never knew. This was a tour-de-force collection of women who aspired for greatness despite their biological “setback.”

Some of the few standouts for me were:

Mai Bhago played a powerful role in preserving the Sikhs religious freedom when Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb tried to eradicate everything but Islam from his empire during the 18th century.

Fatima Al-Fihri used her inherited wealth to open an educational mosque in 859 that would eventually become al-Qarawiyin University. It is still a world renowned university into our times. Her and her sister used their wealth to serve Allah because the pursuit of knowledge and devotion to academic study are core principles of the Islamic faith.

Annie Jean Easley, dubbed “the human computer” helped send men to space through her incredible skills as a programmer and mathematician. In addition she, her computing skills helped scientists understand galaxies and analyze the ozone layer.

Murasaki Shikibu was an 11th century writer from Japan. Her novel, The Tale of Genji, is considered to be the first fictional work.

Lastly, but not truly last, there was Jackie Mitchell. She had a huge love of baseball and signed a contract to play with the Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor league baseball team in Tennessee. She played her one and only game on April 2nd 1931 against the New York Yankees for an exhibition game where she struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig! Her prize? She earned a torn up contract by the commissioner who stated baseball was too strenuous for women and accusations of her skills as being staged!

I think this is a great introduction book that can spear head further investigation into the lives of these women. It is sad to think about how many other wonderful achievements are lost to us through the suppression of woman achievement.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am really excited to see this book in print. It is a little difficult reading it using the kindle. Pictures and titles were in weird places, but overall this book was an exciting read. I really liked that the reader gets to learn about villains and not just the heroes in this book. I really enjoyed it.

This was a fantastic, and extremely well organized, glimpse into the lives of 15 amazing and diverse women from history. There's nothing I can say about this book that isn't said 10x more eloquently within its own pages, so I won't try. Just read it, have your girls read it, and especially have your boys read it.

A side note on one of the women, artist Artemesia Gentilleschi. If you find her story interesting, read the novel in verse "Blood Water Paint", a lovely story that gives a voice to a forgotten painter of unbelievable talent.

As a history major, I love learning more about women in history. This book does just that. While we only learn the basics of each woman it was so nice to see them starting to get some recognition.
I find it really frustrating that I had only heard of three of these women before. The badass lady pirate, and the female baseball player, and the human computers. All because of movies and who have finally showcased them recently.

I really hope they make a part two of this book or make it into a serial book where they show 25 new women every year or six months. Just an idea, as I know there are tons of other women out there who have done amazing things.

I cannot recommend this book enough and I will be doing my own research on some of them to continue to learn about them. Maybe I'll even be able to write a few papers on them!