I really enjoyed learning about the "Bad Girls from History". This book offered great stories about interesting women in history and what made them infamous.

A great addition to any library looking to build a stronger collection on female studies or history.

I liked the idea behind this book but this non-fiction book just lists and shortly summarizes the lives of some renowned women from history. It serves as an introductory text but doesn't go into too much detail.

Bad Girls From History is interesting less what I expected but still decent to read if you want some basic detail profiles on many notorious women in history. Most of them misunderstood, others given a bad reputation brought onto them by men as usual others who actually are quite bad and enjoyed being so.

I wish there had been more history explored about these characters and more information provided about their lives.

I love buying non fiction reads for our school library and this is one that I will definitely be purchasing. It is important that the students read a range of books on a diverse array of subjects and Dee Gordon's book was both immaculately researched and incredibly readable. The senior students will definitely enjoy reading it and I think that they'll find it extremely interesting as well as giving them a better insight into the subject matter. I have ordered a copy and look forward to recommending it to our seniors who enjoy non fiction as much as a good novel. An excellent read!

Hello, hello, hellooo! (*rises from the dead*) That was a looong hiatus, one that I had to take because college and deadlines were catching up with me and I had to try my best to stay on top of everything! It feels so good to be back and reading again but, unfortunately, I have to come back with a less than positive review.

When I first heard of this book I was over the moon; I love history and I love girls, so what could possibly go wrong? Pretty much everything, it seems. Let’s start with the positives, shall we? After a quick skimming of the book I soon came to realize that I was unfamiliar with many women featured in it, which made me even more eager to read it. But that’s about it. As soon as I started reading I realized that there were only two possible case scenarios: a)you were either familiar with the woman the chapter was dedicated to, in which case it provided no additional or fascinating information, or b) you were unfamiliar with the woman written about, in which case the information provided read more like a Wikipedia page and was not particularly interesting. The passages were too short to provide an enlightening insight into these women’s lives and, if I’m being honest, I can hardly remember anything.

My other major problem lies with the title of the book itself: Wicked or Misunderstood? Making the assumption that these women may have simply been misunderstood is fine as long as we’re talking about, let’s say, courtesans or whatnot. It is not a fine assumption when entire chapters of your book are dedicated to criminals and murderers. I’m not saying that the author tried to justify their actions in any way, but I do find the choice of title a bit “irresponsible”.



**An ARC was provided in exchange of an honest review.**

There's quite a few women included who really didn't deserve to be included here, and some of the more interesting women had some.of the best facts left out.

"Bad Girls From History: Wicked or Misunderstood?" fails to answer the question posed in the subtitles. Are the women featured in this book inherently evil or are they misunderstood due to cultural norms imposed on women at the time when the women were respectively alive.

The premise sounds fascinating but the execution failed on that front. The book featured far too many women which made it impossible to analyze any of them in any detail. Instead, it came off like a Wikipedia entry of who slept with whom.

End result was shallow, and thus, boring.

There were definitely some very cruel and mean women included in this book. A short read that started with mistresses and madams, then onto murderers and then onto outlaws and bank robbers.

Some of these women, I had heard and some I had not. I did spend a lot of time checking out the pictures of these women trying to find out what made them so attractive that they were able to sell their bodies for most of their lives to the wealthy, elite and royalty. I guess attraction was a different thing in some of these eras.

I definitely recognized Georgia Tann although that is only because I had read "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate which was a fictional tale about a family of children that Ms. Tann had requisitioned through her nefarious ways. A really good book if you get the chance to read it, by the way.

Of course, there was Bonnie Parker, Calamity Jane, Ma Barker, and Lizzie Borden just to name a few.

I do have to say that I had to quit reading about the murderers as it was pretty much grossing me out while reading during lunch.

Interesting and informative.

Thanks to Pen and Sword and Net Galley for a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

When I was still at university I quickly began specialising in women from history. I absolutely loved discovering fascinating upon fascinating women in my text books, seeing how women always rebelled, in one way or another, against the rules imposed upon them by the patriarchy. Those discoveries are one of the things I miss most. A book like Bad Girls from History is like a treasure trove to me. Are some of the women in this book despicable? Absolutely. But each mini biography in Gordon's book is an insight into a period in history, into a certain mindset, into a certain ideology. There is a lot to work with and to think about, and I love both of those things when it comes to historical women. Thanks to Pen & Sword and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So yes, I love women who are considered bad. Jezebel? I wish the Bible had had more of her. Women ruling the Gangs of New York? I’m so here for it. Mata Hari being over the top till the very end? Tell me more! So Godon’s Bad Girls from History was always going to be something I enjoyed. I devoured the book in a day, pouring over the biographies of women forgotten by most. Gordon digs up women ranging from the widely known and infamous, to those reduced to a footnote in most books. What I enjoy most about these types of books is that it shows how women have always forged a path for themselves one way or the other. Did they do so for bad reasons, did they do so with murderous intent? Some definitely. But other women saw opportunities in the small niche allowed for them and exploited it for all they could. This is why I love history, because it shows you that while society may dictate one thing, in the end, most people do what they want anyone. And going down in history as a bad girl always brings with it some respect.

The book is split into six different sections. ‘Courtesans and Mistresses’ contains such illustrious characters as Cleopatra for her affairs with Caesar and Mark Anthony, as well as Kitty Fisher. ‘Madams, Prostitutes and Adulterers’ presents us with the likes of Anne Boleyn and Sidonie Colette. This is perhaps the chapter that had me most confused as some of these, like Boleyn, really didn’t seem to fit. ‘Serial Killers’ is a truly horrendous and fascinating chapter full of women like the Countess Bathory and Lizzie Borden. This was a runner up for my favourite chapter. ‘One Off Killers’ is easier on the mind than the previous chapter, but includes mostly women that haven’t gone down in infamy. ‘Gangsters, Thieves and Con-Artists’ is the chapter for anyone in love with Bonnie & Clyde. Here you will find even more women breaking the law left, right and centre. The book finishes with ‘The Rebel Collection – Pirates, Witches, Megalomaniacs, Exhibitionists’ and since I have a massive penchant for female pirates and witches, I adored some of the women appearing in here. There’s Anne Bonny, Boudicca, Empress Cixi and much more. What this overview hopefully shows is how diverse, in some ways, Bad Girls from History is. There are many women from different walks of life, all of which were considered bad once upon a time. Some of these women, like Bergen-Belsen guard Irma Grese deserve that judgement outright, while many other of the women in this book seem very much a victim of their time.

Gordon passes no judgement in this book, and often also doesn’t go very much deeper into her subjects than the bare boned facts, as far as those are available. As such, Bad Girls from History is more like a dictionary of women who, one way or another, drew attention to themselves. Maybe they wrote beautiful yet divisive poetry like Sappho, maybe they acted outside of normal gender patterns like Calamity Jane. Although I would have liked to see Gordon dig into these women, analyze what led them to their actions, how they were forced into certain situations by gender roles etc., Bad Girls from History is not that book and also never pretends to be. The fact I wanted more, however, shows that Gordon presented and interesting and well-written case. Her biographies are interspersed with humour, small comments upon the actions of this or that woman, and ruminations upon how their actions would be seen now. But mostly she lets these bad girls’ actions speak for them.

I really enjoyed Bad Girls from History and found myself racing through its pages. I wanted to know more about those women, more about what they did and why. As such, Gordon's book is a perfect starting point for any reader. The facts on many of these women are scarce, yet Gordon does the best with the material available to her. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in women throughout history.

I didn't expect this to be as dry as it is. Which is extremely disappointing, because this is the kind of subject matter I liiiiiiiive for.

The one thing I will take away from this very tedious read is that Camilla Parker Bowles's great grandmother was Alice Keppel, infamous mistress of King Edward VII.

MM hmm.

There is an audience for this, but unfortunately, it didn't work for me.

This is one of those tough books to rate and review, because anything I say is going to feel too harsh. Bad Girls from History is not a bad book by any means; I think there is a sizable audience out there for whom this could be an interesting and informative read. I’m just not a member of that audience. Dee Gordon’s dive into presenting 100 women who misbehaved is a little too encylopaedic, a little too dry, for me.

This book reminds me of A Strange Wilderness, in which Amir D. Aczel presents mini-biographies of many great mathematicians. I enjoyed that book, for he puts a lot of passion and enthusiasm into discussing math through these people’s lives, but I still struggled with his choice of format. The same goes for Bad Girls from History. It is definitely researched and informative; Gordon has clearly laboured over her choices of women and how to discuss them.

It just lacks that little spark, that hook, to bind everything together for me. But I can easily see that not being a problem for a different reader, so I don’t want to damn this book with faint praise.

Basically: if you want something that you can dip into, maybe read about one or two “Bad Girls” a night for a while, this book will work for you. It might give you ideas for women you could learn more about from dedicated biographies, if one exists. If you’re looking for detailed commentary that links these women’s lives into more coherent threads, or if you’re looking for analysis with a bigger picture, then you won’t find that here. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, just not quite what I was hoping for.

Review will be published on Goodreads on September 29.

This book features short descriptions of "Bad Girls From History." The women featured were everything from prostitutes to murderers. I found myself growing bored with this book. The author seemed to feature English women heavily and often referred to the women's lover's by title. I have to admit that I don't know enough about the English royal's to know who had what title when. Everything just ran together after a while. The passages for each woman were about a page each, which didn't give enough detail to make any of them stand out. Overall, a bust.

I didn't finish this read - hence the one star as I found it far less informative than I expected.

It was obvious the author did extensive and thorough research for this book. My favorite section was concerning women who were also murderers. It became obvious that for the most part these bad girls were simply victims of the time and norms of the time in which they were born into which removed viable options other than the use of their sex. There was no thesis to this book, simply a retelling of several unfortunate women's sad lives.

A well researched book on the bad girls throughout history. Unfortunately, I think the book would have been better if the author had concentrated on less women and included more detail.Still, a good read.

Stories and tales about an interesting selection of throughout history. Each story is a perfect snapshot of the woman in question. The woman are grouped into various categories for each chapter. This layout of the book allows you to dip in and read about a few stories whenever you want. A really interesting exploration of the perceptions of woman who completed actions that were different from the norm in many different ways.

I must admit that author Dee Gordon's book, Bad Girls from History, Wicked or Misunderstood?, was not what I expected. It is a very readable account of women through the ages who've been judged, or perhaps misjudged, as wicked and bad. I was disappointed to find that the stories about the women were short, more encyclopedic in nature than complete. While the book was a good overview, it included many women whose names I didn't recognize at all, and it didn't offer enough--at least, for this reader--on the women who were notorious or infamous. I wish the author had gone into more depth on each listing.

(3.5 out of 5 stars) This was a wild bunch of women from history, some I was familiar with, but plenty was new to me which kept it interesting too. From infamous murdering courtesans of Europe to American film stars such as Ava Gardner, there are both highborn females and the less high. It was fun to see who they included as being bad girls. There was an interesting mix from different time periods and countries. They had quite a lot of cases for a book that isn't all that lengthy. It seemed to go by quickly for me. It would also work over several evenings reading just a few cases a night before bed if you wanted to make it last too. Thank you to NetGalley, Pen & Sword History, and the author for giving me an eARC for review.

Bad Girls from History recounts a wide array of tales of mischievous women. The wickedness captured in these stories ranges from the standard mistresses and adulterers, to the naughty-by-trade pirates, gangsters and witches, all the way out to the most deplorable serial killers and one-off murderers. Each account is clearly well-researched, pieced together from what remains of records of the past, yet some of the tales still leave the reader wanting more - more historical context, more information about the society that these women found themselves in. Overall, it was interesting to learn of these women's lives and impacts on the world around them, but it felt as though it had spread itself a bit too thin. .