Throughout history, women have been seen as pious mothers, wives, or daughters who stayed in their lane or vile manipulators who wanted power and were willing to do anything to maintain their status. While the former group of women would be an interesting study, as the saying goes, well-behaved women seldom make history. So why did certain women receive a villainess lens when we look at their lives and what do the historical records tell us about them? Samantha Morris has chosen to take the stories of these misunderstood maidens and tell them in her latest book, “The Most Maligned Women in History.”

I want to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I enjoyed the previous books that I have read by Samantha Morris which covered Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia and Girolamo Savonrola When I heard that she was writing a book about maligned women in history, it caught my attention immediately as I wanted to see which women would be discussed in this book.

As Morris states in her introduction, there are numerous women who she could have chosen for this book she could make a second book, but in the end, she selected eleven women from different countries and centuries to highlight. The eleven women in this book are Cleopatra VII, Empress Wu, Joan of Arc, Lucrezia Borgia, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth Bathory, Catherine the Great, Marie Antoinette, Lizzie Borden, Empress Dowager Cixi, and Iva Toguri the “Tokyo Rose.” Morris takes the time to tell their stories succinctly while explaining why they are considered maligned.

I do appreciate the fact that she included women from different walks of life and different centuries to show how women have been vilified throughout history. We had women who were born queens, those who were mistresses or concubines and became rulers, and average women who did extraordinary things to the ire of those in charge. While I knew some of these stories like Anne Boleyn, Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, and Lucrezia Borgia, others were completely new to me, such as Empress Wu, Empress Dowager Cixi, and Iva Toguri. The other women in this book were names that I had heard mentioned and knew some elements of their tales, but I didn’t know their full stories.

I found this book such a fun read full of vivacious women who were not afraid to go beyond the status quo. I do hope Morris will write a sequel book and include even more women from the past who have been viewed as maligned and maybe include women from Africa, Australia, and South America to show women from even more diverse backgrounds. If you want a delightful and insightful book about women who had some bad reputations, I highly suggest you read, “The Most Maligned Women in History” by Samantha Morris.

The Most Maligned Women in History by Samantha Morris is a fascinating read, concerning some of the most (in)famous of women from Lucrezia Borgia and Joan of Arc, to Lizzie Borden.
My knowledge of each of these women is limited, except to say that I understand they are notorious for their crimes - not an uncommon perception when I ask among my friends. What is less known, are their achievements and the struggles that they faced. The stories about these women are mainly just that, stories. The truth is far more varied and fascinating.
The Most Maligned Women in History is an accessible and easy read and one that I heartily recommend. It's intriguing to read a little about each of these women and I am buying another of Samantha's books as I want to learn more about Lucretia Borgia.

This book was a fun read with a lot of history thrown in. I personally didn’t know a lot of the info, so I definitely think that made the book more interesting to me. It’s also a pretty consumable writing which I appreciated.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

My thanks to Pen and Sword Press, Samantha Morris and Netgalley.
I suppose.that I did like this book. I think my major issue with it may not have anything to do with the contents. My issue would be with the fact that some people may have lived their entire lives believing the worst of these women.
I was unlucky enough to be raised in a house where women didn't matter much. My mom dealt with shit that I would not have put up with. That's why I left home after 10th grade.
Because of how things were in the past, I've never much believed in anything that had "his" story attached to it.
I can't imagine that things are much easier today than they were decades ago. I know that people try to be better, but being better is strongly attached to "for me" children. If you can't be better, then try to teach your children better
Except for the Batthory story, I've never believed any of it.
A witch? Oh! Did she beguile a man with her feminine wiles? Give it a fucking rest! If y'all men can't control your dick, then blame it in the witch. Bastards.
Honestly? I'm 60 years old and have been tired of this trope since the 1960's.
Also, Cleopatra? I don't know much about her, as there's not a whole lot that's evidentiary. Still? Love.
At first I was going to give this 3 stars. Mostly because I've seen no footnotes etc.
But, I'm just easy to please. I decided that since nobody ever gave any evidentiary scrap to the "evil women" trope, then I can and will say....fuck it! My women. Our rules. We totally have.rocked,.for millennia. Men just keep blaming it on witchcraft!
Good thing they have a dick, otherwise they'd get NO play.

The Most Maligned Women in History is by Samantha Morris is a title the accounts for many controversial women throughout history, due to their misdeeds or ruthlessness, or simply because they’re women. I found some chapters to be more well written than others. Sometimes I found the information confusing or repetitive, but overall, I thought this was a good book and I enjoyed reading it throughout its entirety. Thank you again to Netgalley for the opportunity!

'The Most Maligned Women in History' narrates, in 11 chapters, the lives of 11 women who have been dealt an unfair hand by history. Beginning with Cleopatra (VII) and working chronologically, each story is told from their childhood to death and lasting legacy.
I found that the biographies were concisely told, easily accessible and that the author had clearly gone to a lot of trouble to make it so. The writing overall was very accessible, to its merit.
However, I felt that at times the writing was too casual and informal. At other times, the accessible nature of writing meant that the intellectual thrust was lost. I really did not like the many sweeping statements made by the author about, for example, public opinion. How was this known, and what sources were used? A lot of faith in the author's judgement is required in order to remain convinced by the arguments presented. Perhaps my biggest criticism of this work was that the further reading was so short, taking into account the amount of research undertaken for 11 separate biographies. I also felt that there was too much time spent on the lives of the 11 women, rather than pinpointing how they were maligned.
That being said, I enjoyed the breadth of history covered and learnt about women and periods of history that I would not necessarily naturally gravitate towards. I particularly liked how the author was able to simplify very complicated aspects of history, making it very accessible.
Overall, 2.5*. Accessible, but I was left too curious!
Thank you very much to Pen and Sword for providing me with an advance reading copy!

An accessible look at some of history's favorite scapegoats- the women. Short historical blurbs provide a beginner's primer for notable names like Wu Zeitan, Marie Antoinette, Joan d Arc, and Lucrezia Borgia. An overview, but could better address the reasons why each woman has gone down in history.

Women have been villainized and accused of crimes throughout history. This book explores some of these famously maligned women who have been accused of everything from witchcraft to vampirism as well as seduction and murderer. How much of it is rumor? Are these reputations actually deserved?

While this book doesn’t really bring anything very much new to the table I loved reading about these women and their stories and really enjoyed it. The nuanced look at the circumstances and events that these people lived through and which shaped who they became was super interesting. I appreciate the author’s passion to even make a defense for the notorious Elizabeth Bathory! think something I would have wanted for the author to explore would have been connecting how these famous figures of the past have been portrayed to how women in power of today are vilified and the methods being used to do so.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher. I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Most Maligned Women in History by Samantha Morris tells the story of some of history’s most vilified women. But, Morris poses, were they truly all that bad?

You’ll find discussions of Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth Bathory, Dowager Empress Cixi, and others. Many believe Marie Antoinette said, “let them eat cake” when told the peasants were starving. In reality, this quote was more than likely said long after the infamous queen had been executed. Cixi was seen as ruthless, yet her reign brought peace and prosperity with it as well. With Bathory, there is definitive proof to the accusations flung at her name. No one knows the truth of whether she bathed in the blood of innocent young women. It possible she was no more than a victim of rumors of her time.

I recommend this book for fans of women’s history, however Morris does not really deep dive into the history of these women. If you are looking for more information about their lives besides a glazing over of the points that contribute to their reputations, you won’t find it here. Still this is a quick, worthwhile read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Pen & Sword for the advanced reader copy.

I was excited for this book. It's not like I was expecting a full on academic paper or lit review for every "maligned" woman in history. But I was expecting more depth into an individual's life, and maybe more women than just the common ones we hear about from buzzfeed articles. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just seems a little superficial (and pale) to not delve a little deeper in the the long history of women, from every corner of the globe, being overlooked.
The writing leaves much to be desired, this just seems so casual. Parts of it sound like it was written for a middleschool paper and others are clearly AI.
I thought perhaps there would be a story, to showcase each women's history in detail, or at least specific asepcts, but no. It's just word vomit of hearsay and occasional facts, in a very childish fashion, about women we already know, and nothing new (at least as far as I can tell). I don't see the point in why the books exists.
Theres also no explaining as to why these specific women were chosen as the "most maligned women", or a discussion about why the were "maligned". There's no thought about what these women being sidelined could mean or why it might have happened. And there's very little on where this information came from and whether or not we can trust the sources.
Some chapters were better written than others, and actually held my attention, although only briefly.
But overall I'm still deeply disappointed by this book.

4 Stars

Big thanks to the author and publisher for sending me this ARC.

This book isn’t super long, but it’s packed with cool stories about historical women like Joan of Arc, Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, and more. Every time I read about someone, I couldn’t resist googling their pictures, castles, or the names that popped up, it really brought the stories to life! I did spot a couple of name errors, but it wasn’t a big deal, probably just because it’s an advance copy. I assume those will be corrected in the final version.

Overall, I had a great time reading it and learned a lot. Definitely worth checking out!

Concisely told short bios of notorious women - what’s not to like? Morris manages to escape the trap of other, similar books - she never maligns other women while apologizing for her main subject. A fun book for people (like me!) who enjoy this sort of thing.

I LOVED THIS.

The selection of women here is *chef's kiss* and the writing style is simply phenomenal.
I couldn't put this down!!

Plus I learned quite a lot.

thank you to netgalley, samantha morris and pen & sword for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
i really enjoyed this book. it was an interesting compilation of several stories of maligned women in history- as the title says. it is exactly what it states. the book explores a variety of larger than life women from marie antoinette to lizzie borden.
history is often written by men and the oppressors, this book brings up good questions and discusses the women with intrigue but a fair amount of fair skepticism- sharing each side fairly.
a good pick up for fans of feminist literature- and a great pick if you want to read something that isn’t intense or a long book on each woman. i enjoyed the photos at the end as well.

History is just a story, like any other. The women featured here have been maligned for centuries. Assuredly, all legends are rife with speculation and exaggeration. However, I feel like the author cuts them a little too much slack. One can tell the truth without being an apologist. However, this is a useful book for a social studies teacher to have on their shelf. It gives good information, without being overwhelming. It would be a super useful starting point for students researching any of the featured ladies. The bibliography would also be welcome for building research projects. A nice tool for teachers and high schoolers.

A fabulous collection of accounts of the lives and characters of some fascinating women across different times and places. The author writes with an appropriate dash of humour here and there to make the sometimes dark content easier to stick with and is always careful to include context so we can place the woman in the time in which she lived. The selected accounts are interesting in themselves - from royalty to accused murders, this is truly a diverse selection.

An interesting series of articles about infamous women in history. However, when information about a person isn’t available - such as with Empress Wu, the author repeats the sensationalized claims as facts. The author also doesn’t seem to have read any biographies of Empress Cixi.