The War Queens

Extraordinary Women Who Ruled the Battlefield

By: Jonathan W. Jordan, Emily Anne Jordan

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Father-daughter duo Jonathan and Emily Jordan uncover the ingenious wartime tactics of some of history’s most powerful female leaders across millennia and continents, from the stifling battlefields of ancient Egypt to the frigid waters off the Falkland Islands.

History’s killer queens come in all colors, ages, and leadership styles. Elizabeth Tudor and Golda Meir played the roles of high-stakes gamblers who studied maps with an unblinking, calculating eye. Angola’s Queen Njinga was willing to shed (and occasionally drink) blood to establish a stable kingdom in an Africa ravaged by the slave trade. Caterina Sforza defended her Italian holdings with cannon and scimitar, and Indira Gandhi launched a war to solve a refugee crisis.

From ancient Persia to modern-day Britain, the daunting thresholds these exceptional women had to cross - and the clever, sometimes violent ways in which they overcame them - are evoked in vivid detail by Jordan and Jordan. The narrative sidles up to these war queens in the most dire, tumultuous moments of their reigns and examines the brilliant methods and maneuvers they each used to defend themselves and their people from enemy forces. In the end, we come away with a new awareness of the extraordinary power and potential of women in history who walked through war’s kiln and emerged from the other side - some burnished to greatness, others burned to cinders.

©2020 Jonathan W. Jordan and Emily Anne Jordan (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Too many edit errors…

Needs a bit more Quality Assurance on the editing. Powerful book, great balance of commonly known & lesser appreciated warrior women.

very interesting

very well done. lots of history presented in a way that makes you look at historical events with a new mind.

examples of determination

a very interesting discussion of leadership and determination and fearlessness be at man or woman but excellent examples of the woman's role

Worth the time

An interesting review of a historically ignored topic. I have dozens of books in my library reviewing the exploits of male generals, but this is the first compilation of female military leaders that I have run across.
Very well written, not a yawn worthy moment and in a history book that is a real accomplishment! The Epilog should be noted for its pathos, a fine ending to a excellent telling of these powerful women.
The narrator must be commended also. She kept the energy high and the tone exciting. Her handling of the text and subject matter kept you interested. In a book like this a less talented reader would have been disastrous.

Interesting boook.

I struggled in the beginning, I was lost in the historical geographical locations where the early queens battled. It picked up for me at the time of Cleopatra and forward because I understand the more modern geography.
Awesome women!