This is a biography of many queens throughout history. Some of these women that I know. Others that I didn’t know. My favorites are Nefertiti and Empress Dowager Cixi. I recommend this book for fans of royalty!

Female rulers tend to be remembered throughout history, whether attempts were made to scrub their names from memory or not. Some were benevolent leaders, others were warriors in their own right. Each queen from around the world, throughout the ages, were unique rulers—individuals that were determined to be remembered. And they should be celebrated as a result.

Queens: Women in Power Through History by Phyllis G. Jestice is a glorious overview of the queens we all know and love (or love to hate), but it’s also much more than that …

FEMALE POWERHOUSES
The introduction of Queens: Women in Power Through History begins with terminology that is essential to know about the various types of “queens” there are and why the term “queen” is problematic. It’s an incredibly important part of the book, and relevant to us even now. Why? After Queen Elizabeth II of England’s recent passing, a sovereign, the collective now struggles to identify the role of Queen Camilla, the wife of King Charles III of England. She is a Queen Consort (although, she is not referred to as such), which is very different to a sovereign … Regardless of the differences, though, one thing all queens share is their duty to produce a heir. Motherhood is a crucial part of keeping a monarchy alive, which is beautifully explained in this book.

Once you’re familiar with what a queen is, Queens: Women in Power Through History takes us on a magnificent journey through the ages. Introducing readers to the powerful women in the Ancient World, taking us through the Middle Ages, toward the Age of Exploration and into the Modern World. It’s a fantastic, informative adventure into learning about the women who ruled and influenced kingdoms!

FEATURING FAN FAVORITES AND VILLAINS
Some of the queens we learn about are not at all unfamiliar: The Queen of Sheba, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Nefertiti, and so forth. However, there are many more influential women you may have never heard of before … Olimpias, the mother of Alexander the Great, for example. There’s a bit about my all-time favorite queen, Boudica. We travel far and wide to be introduced to almost every influential royal woman who had made an appearance in power, and what a thrilling ride it is!

To make things even better, the book is visually appealing with gorgeous photographs and paintings to put a face to the names. 🙂

A NIFTY REFERENCE GUIDE
What I enjoyed the most about this book is how quickly I came to think of it as a must-have reference guide. As an author that enjoys writing strong female characters, it’s always handy to have a glance at women in power and imagine how they would have handled a situation. As an amateur historian who may enjoy learning about royalty a tad too much, Queens: Women in Power Through History tickled all the right spots. It’s merely one of the reasons I’ve decided I need to get a hardback copy (and you should too)!

IN CONCLUSION
I can’t recommend this book enough to readers who enjoy learning about powerful women, discovering exciting facts about female rulers throughout history, and history buffs. It’s an absolutely gorgeous book, well-researched, and timely, too.

I learned a lot reading this book. The author writes about ruling women across history and around the world. I was familiar with many of the European rulers but many of the Asian and African women were new to me. The author also includes many women who ruled unofficially. The author points out that across cultures men have done everything they can to make it hard for women to rule and since history is often written by men they are judged more harshly than their male counterparts, or just plain ignored. The author does her best to separate the rumors from the facts about these powerful women. The book also includes lot of wonderful historical illustrations. The book is well written and easy to read even though a lot of information is included. Enjoy learning about this forgotten history

When I came across this book, I thought that it was a tad ambitious in its aims. However, I am incredibly happy to have been proven wrong. Jestice deftly takes us through the role of queen and many of those who have held it from the ancient world through to the present. She does not limit her scope geographically and covers queens from Europe, Asia, and Africa. I especially appreciated that she not only looked at queens regnant, but queens consort, regents, and other queen-like roles that often occupy a similar space politically/ at court.

Jestice does a wonderful job of looking at the infinite number of nuances without getting lost in the detail. It is informative and fascinating, but does not tarry on any one period or place. And she does not give excessive space to the “usual suspects”; she introduces countless lesser-known historical figures to bring them into the spotlight. With the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II, and the new Queen Consort, Camilla, a popular topic of discussion, this is a must-read book.

I thought that Queens: Women in Power through History provided an interesting glimpse into the lives of the female rulers who helped shape the modern world. The book does follow a more traditional textbook style, complete with photos of artifacts and renderings of the rulers, which may not be everyone's preference but I found perfectly enjoyable.

The author covers a very large span of time in only 224 pages, meaning that you won't get a very detailed background on the lives of all of the women included but you do an expansive coverage of female leadership (and what that looked like) throughout the ages. I did like that the author included leaders from all around the world. There are quite a bit of European rulers included by comparison but I do believe there could be a number of reasons why that is the case, including simply just access to information and written history.

Overall, I think this is a great book to reference and it is easy to read in sections for those who want to further their knowledge about the history of female rulers but not read straight through.

I'm such a fan of queens throughout history, and I love that this book dips so far into the past. It covers more commonly known queens such as Catherine the Great, Queen Victoria, and Elizabeth II and also more ancient rulers such as Wu Zeitan, Theodora, and Eleanor. The scope is large, a macro review of history, and of course has a more European slant. The most information is focused on the European rulers and I am not sure if this is due to access to information, inherent bias towards the west, or a combination of both. A lovely arrangement of photos and text will draw in teens and juveniles as well as adults.

This book is an exploration of powerful women throughout history. It examines ruling women in the ancient world, in the Early and High Middle Ages, during the Age of Exploration, and finally during the Modern Era. Not only does it discuss the ways they came into power and held it, it also examines the reforms and decrees they put in place to protect women when possible and how their rules changed the world.

This work has a huge scope, but the author compiled the information beautifully. Despite the extensive time that was covered as well as the fact that queens from around the world were examined, the work felt cohesive and comprehensive. It was fascinating to see the similarities and broader assumptions that were prevalent for many of these women despite their difference in time/location, but also to get into many of the unique details that varied between these women.

There was a great use of artifacts, art, and iconography throughout the work – these images were included on most pages, which helped to bring these women to life as well as emphasize their histories and cultural differences. The amount of research and knowledge the author brought to this topic was apparent. There were many different ruling women that were unfamiliar to me, even from the modern era, and I enjoyed learning about them through this work. While this book doesn’t go into full biographical mode for these women, it is a great starting place if you’re interested in researching any of them individually.

If you enjoy history or are interested in women’s studies, this informative work is for you. Many thanks to NetGalley and Amber Books Ltd for allowing me to read this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is officially among my favorite encyclopedias. Loaded in valuable information and gorgeous photography.

Queens by Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice is a new book.
In this book, Jestice covers women who have been in charge of a country or tribe throughout the ages. They organise this chronologically, but it allows you to jump in at any time.
I thought this book was phenomenal. It was clearly well researched, with tons of interesting information. It also had a lot of pictures, to amplify the learning. My favorite thing about this book is how international it is. It does not just cover Europe, but also talks about Asia, Africa, and the Americas. This made it a lot easier to compare and contrast countries. This book also covers more than just queens, it covers any female who ruled, such as a tribe leader or a regent. Lastly, this book has a good amount of known and unknown people. There are all the famous female leaders, such as Elizabeth I, but there are also more unknown leaders.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in women who ruled, who want a broad and informative book.

I have always been interested in biographies, especially of women who were unusual for their time. Unfortunately, women in power have been unusual throughout time, and there is not much information available about most of those who became rulers. So this book seemed like a treasure trove for me.

Although this book does not give much information about the lives of these women, it includes many examples, from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. And there is an interesting focus on how and why these women became queens, and what their rule was like.

The “Queens” referred to in the book were not necessarily queens, but were in some way a ruler for a period of time. For example, some women who were married to rulers were able to wield power because their husbands consulted them or were unable to rule themselves. Some women were regents for their underage sons and some managed to overthrow a son or brother. But many (most) were not rulers in their own right, legally. In the Introduction, Jestice explains some of these situations and clarifies what she means by “queens.”

I love the phrase that Jestice uses to describe these ruling women: “This odd dynamic of powerful powerlessness.”

The book has 6 Chapters, each for a separate time span:
1. Powerful Women of the Ancient World
2. Power and Influence in the Early Middle Ages
3. Female Sovereignty in the High Middle Ages
4. Ruling Women in the Age of Exploration
5. Queenly Powers in the Early Modern Era
6. Modern Challenges for Monarchies

Instead of organizing the information within those times for each woman, the author has sub-sections according to the way each woman was able to rule. For example, Partners in Rule; Mother Power: The Case of Regency; Power-Sharing Women; Sharing in Rule, Consort: Someone Who Shares the Work of Government; Women Empowered by Absent Men; etc.

However, this results in information about each woman given in small bits in different parts of the section if they were able to rule for more than one reason (eg, Livia), which felt disorganized to me. In some cases the information was repeated with only a picture page between the two mentions (for example, information about Theophanu). I would have preferred all the information about each ruler in one place.

The highlight of the book is the glorious illustrations (180 of them), which include reproductions of paintings and tapestries as well as photos of sculptures and artifacts. After the Index, there is a list of picture credits, but no references. I would have appreciated this since the book has made me want to read further information about many of the women highlighted.

I received this as an e-book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book has a lot more rulers named than I expected. It is impossible to remember all the names, but the book is great for using them as examples. I enjoyed my reading a lot. The book is somewhat divided by time and continents, so it was an easy transition through history.

This is an informative and educational book about Queens and powerful women throughout history and cultures . Where history is almost always told from the perspective of Kings, it’s great to find book that focuses on women who have shaped history. I need a copy for my bookshelf !

The author studies how queens have dealt with power from ancient times to the present, with boxes containing potted biographies of many of them. There are the more famous, powerful ones like Elizabeth 1, but the book also includes little-known queens from all over the world. This is an interesting book, beautifully illustrated and thoroughly researched. I found it to be more of a reference book or a book that you dip into, rather than one to read straight through.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book gives us a survey of queens throughout history. Women wielded power as spouses, mothers, concubines, some ursurpated power some were stripped of their power. I never expected so many females in so many different cultures leading a country, it was helpful the book contained many pictures, it helped me keep on track. I think it is a good means to put the focus on ruling women and inspires to look for further information elsewhere.

What is there not to love about this book. Beautifully illustrated and researched wonderfully. Kept me engaged from start to finish. A complete work that any lover of the monarchy is sure to love. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Queens by Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice is a fascinating book about Queens. I read this book on Netgalley as an ebook to find out more about Queen Elizabeth. I cannot wait to read and see the actual book with the illustrations.

From the beginning of civilization until recently, men have had a distrust of women who held power. It was thought that women lacked the mental capacity to rule, lacked the proper education, and in some cases were considered incapable because they were tainted by the “Curse of Eve.”

Some countries, like France, had a law forbidding female succession, even if it meant the end of a dynasty. Conversely, in other countries where in the absence of a male heir, a woman who bore royal blood was considered more acceptable than the end of a dynasty. In these cases, she was often a place keeper whose most important function was to give birth to a male heir while her husband exercised the real power. Yet there were women who wielded power. Some acted behind the scenes, influencing their husbands, others acted as Queen Regent for an underaged son or as Queen Mother.

But there were some woman, like Hatshepsut and Elizabeth l, finding various strategies to convince their subjects that they could rule as well as a man. Hatshepsut went as far as to dress like a male pharaoh, complete with a false beard. Elizabeth took control of her advisors immediately upon taking the throne and refused to marry.

Phyllis G. Jestice examines a number of queens from the Ancient World to the Modern World. And they aren’t confined to Europe. The queens in this book are European, Middle Eastern, Asian, South American, and African. Jestice could have played it easy and written a book of short biographies. But what she does is takes us much deeper into the world these women lived in. So we see them in the context of the period when they ruled. In that way, we discover the problems they confronted in a historical framework.

This is a wonderful book. Jestice really knows her subject and can relate it in an entertaining manner.

My thanks to NetGalley and Amber Books for providing me with an ARC. The views expressed in the review are my own.

I absolutely loved reading this book! Beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written! Definitely a must read for anyone interested in royal history!

Thanks to NetGalley and Getty Publications for this advanced review copy, which I voluntarily read.

Queens: Women in Power Throughout History is a concise look at women who reigned alone as Queen in their own right. Women from six continents and from ancient Egypt and Greece through Queen Elizabeth II are portrayed. The volume is divided by era, and while the majority of the work is focused on European Queens, I wonder if that was due more to lack of available information or lack of women rulers. Regardless, this was a fascinating book which is a great overview of powerful women.

I enjoyed this volume, I’m always happy to learn about history. I was disappointed that Queen Liliuokalani was not given more attention. Also, while Queen Elizabeth II was discussed, it was mostly random ideas, and nothing about her reign or her Empire. Also, Tsarina Alexandra was given space, however she never ruled Russia in her own right. While her story is interesting, I’m not sure she should have been included.

Still, this is a nice work and the photos are beautiful. This would be a great coffee table book for someone who loves history or women’s studies.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

From Hatshepsut, to Queen Elizabeth II a series of portraits of women in power through history and in different continents.
It was a fascinating read, made me learn something new.
The illustrations are great.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine