Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook free of charge,from Pegasus Books, via Edelweiss for blog review purposes on this blog. No compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own.
A deeply researched and sweeping history that redefines our understanding of the Amazons and their culture, tracking the ancient legend into the modern world and examining its significance today.
Synopsis:
Since the time of the ancient Greeks we have been fascinated by accounts of the Amazons, an elusive tribe of hard-fighting, horse-riding female warriors. Equal to men in battle, legends claimed they cut off their right breasts to improve their archery skills and routinely killed their male children to purify their ranks.
For centuries people believed in their existence and attempted to trace their origins. Artists and poets celebrated their battles and wrote of Amazonia. Spanish explorers, carrying these tales to South America, thought they lived in the forests of the world’s greatest river, and named it after them. In the absence of evidence, we eventually reasoned away their existence, concluding that these powerful, sexually liberated female soldiers must have been the fantastical invention of Greek myth and storytelling. Until now.
Following decades of new research and a series of groundbreaking archeological discoveries, we now know these powerful warrior queens did indeed exist. In Searching for the Amazons, John Man travels to the grasslands of Central Asia―from the edge of the ancient Greek world to the borderlands of China―to discover the truth about the truth about these women whose legend has resonated over the centuries
Review:
Well Miss Grace IS studying Ancient Civ this year, so it seemed only right to check out this interesting sound book, which should find it's way to many a book shelves thanks to the recent Wonder Woman and Marvel movies. But having said that, this is truly a look at the HISTORICAL record! You could say Man has found the source of women's power, down through the ages! By looking at archealogical records, he sought out truth, not myth. yet, we know myth is always fiction surrounding fact. And fact he DID find witness proof from secondary records, would make any genealogist proud of how he found the lost Amazons!
We know there were female Viking and Celt warriors, so why should there not have been more, farther back? Once again, to the victors go the right to write the history, and expunge that which they found odd, offensive or subversive. But Man does a great digging job in finding those kernels of evidence and sharing them in a very readable book. If you ever wondered if Amazons really did exist, pick up this book and see what the truth is!
About the Author:
John Man is a historian specializing in Asia and the nature of leadership. John's books have been published in over twenty languages around the world and include bestselling biographies of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and Attila the Hun, as well as histories of the Great Wall of China and the Mongolian Empire. He lives in England.
Comments
Post a Comment