Promoted as "50 Influential Cross-Dressers, Impersonators, Name-Changers, and Game-Changers", this audio book covered a surprising and sometimes disturbing variety of women who went outside the norm (as it was back then since most of these stories are historical, although some are contemporary) to get the life they wanted. The tongue-in-cheek mini-bio book is narrated by author Anneka Harry, along with Gemma Cairney, Maya Jama, and Suranne Jones, all of whom were eminently listenable. There is an interview section at the end which was hilarious and highly entertaining.
I've seen some negative criticism of this book which talks of it being disrespectful, or employing an inappropriate approach or humor, but I think the problem with those reviewers for the most part is that they simply did not understand the British sense of humor. For me this book could do no wrong. It was outstanding and not only respected the women described here, but also championed them. Many of them I had already heard of, but most I had not, and this is from someone who has gone out of his way to learn more about such women. Another criticism I saw was that some of these women were not nice people. No, they were not, but nowhere does this book promise only to report on angels and goody-two shoes women. It's merely talking about those who broke the mold, and it promises nothing about whether they were good people or bad.
The women featured are (in order of appearance!):
- Hatshepsut
- Hua Mulan
- Saint Marina
- Joanna of Flanders
- Onorata Rodiani
- Joan of Arc
- Elena de Céspedes
- Mary Frith
- Catalina de Erauso
- Queen Kristina of Sweden
- Kit Cavanagh
- Julie d'Aubigny
- Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar
- Mary Read
- Anne Bonny
- Mary East
- Catterina Vizzani
- Margaret Woffington
- Mary Hamilton
- Hannah Snell
- Margaret Ann Bulkley
- Kaúxuma Núpika
- Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin aka George Sand
- Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst
- The Brontë Sisters
- Mary Anne Evans aka George Eliot
- Ellen Craft
- Loreta Janeta Velázquez (note that this particular one is disputed)
- Lillie Hitchcock Coit
- Cathay Williams
- Jeanne Bonnet
- Violet Paget
- Mary Anerson
- Clara Mary Lambert
- Qiu Jin
- Isabelle Wilhelmine Marie Eberhardt
- Dorothy Lawrence
- Umm Kulthum
- Florence Pancho Barnes
- Dorothy Tipton
- June Tarpé Mills
- Saraswathi Rajamani
- Dame Stephanie Shirley
- Rena Rusty Kanokogi
- Bobbi Gibb
- Pili Hussein
- Sisa Abauu Dauh El-Nemr
- Tatiana Alvarez
- Maria Toorpakai Wazir
- Sahar Khodayari
I really enjoyed this book and highly commend it - unless of course you don't get British humor and/or are not entertained by a playful narrative in which case you might want to opt for something staid - or stay-ed?
