Reviews for They Went Whistling: Women Wayfarers, Warriors, Runaways, and Renegades

The average rating for They Went Whistling: Women Wayfarers, Warriors, Runaways, and Renegades based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-07-24 00:00:00 Christina Colby The stories related by Holland are interesting. However, there are a few problems with the book. First, only two of the women whom she profiles in detail are women of color. All of her other detailed profiles are of women of European or US American origin. The reader is left to believe that essentially no women from the non-Western world and virtually no women of color rejected societal norms and rebelled. Or if they did, they're worth only passing mention. Only a cursory look at feminist or women's history belies this notion. Second, Holland makes no mention of lesbianism (even when profiling Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton) and seems clueless as to the possibility that some of the "women" whom she profiles would likely have fit more easily under the label "transgender". (She does, however, make passing and demeaning reference to a transsexual travel writer, denying this woman her womanhood because she is trans.) Third, I'm also not sure exactly what Holland thinks of the traditional (white, middle class) division of labor between men and women. The basis for her definition of rebellion rests on women who defied the "separate spheres" model of gendered life. This, of course, leaves many women of color out (perhaps why there are so few in her book). And she avoids taking a stand on whether this division of labor is purely biological or is social as well. She puts the blame for women's restriction to the home and childrearing on their biological capabilities and what she seems to assume are innate emotional urges -- instead of placing the blame on men's sexism/misogyny and refusal to engage in "demeaning" work around the home and with children. I don't know if Holland claims to be a feminist. But based on certain aspects of this book, i would doubt that she would adopt that label for herself. A shame, because a book like this written from an expressly feminist angle could truly increase our knowledge of rebellious women throughout history and throughout the world.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-10-09 00:00:00 Darrel J. Antonelli This is a fun, breezy read, a survey of some of the greatest women notables of history, from warriors like the Amazons and Scythian women (Joan of Arc is found under those who dressed like men) and Boudicca to exiles like Lady Hester Stanhope and Marianne North, to seekers like Saint Mary of Egypt and Alexandra David-Neel, and to radicals like Mother Jones. The book doesn't pretend to be all-embracing, but it is informative. It's a little too cute in places (I could have done without nearly so many references to discovering one's being, utter philistines, and the Soul's Spiritual Vision when it came to Isadora Duncan--she may have talked like a chucklehead, but she did remake the world of dance), but it does introduce the reader to a number of new, fascinating women to track down for oneself.