A review of the trailblazing book by Ann Shen.

A recent non-fiction book that I enjoyed was Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed The World. Penned by Ann Shen, the book is a collection of short, one-page life histories of trailblazing women who went up against and defeated the status quo, thereby leaving an impact on society and changing the world in their own way. Each empowering and succinct story is accompanied by a beautiful and vivid illustration of the pioneer, drawn by Shen herself.

Shen writes easily, the words flowing out of her pen with wit and a keen instinct for particularly interesting facts, meaning it reads more like an engaging conversation than a lecture.

The tongue-in-cheek ‘Bad Girls’ in the title is a reference to all the women in the book who have dared to defy stereotypes. This means that many of those featured were considered liberal or different both sexually and/or ideologically for their time. While Shen confidently and proudly makes important note of this when applicable, her focus is always on the women’s achievements. From work on abolitionism and improvements in medicine to ruling whole countries and advancing in the arts, there is so much to learn.

Indeed, there is a good mix of women from many different fields, economic backgrounds, races, ethnicities, nationalities and time periods. Readers are sure to discover new facts about their favourites as well as learn about some women they had never even heard about before. For me this was, Hedy Lamarr, the inventor of Wi-Fi.

It is an important book for girls to read so that they know women have been successful in the path they want to take and that the sky is the limit. Whilst I certainly wish I had this book growing up, it is a must-have even for the bookshelves of grown women who need to be reminded every now and again of the incredible innate strength and capacity for greatness each woman possesses.

The book also shares some of the hardships many of the women have had to face, which is good for anyone feeling discouraged by the current state of worldly affairs. It is a wonderful and much-necessary addition to the current trend in publishing of books about empowered women.

Women are often erased from history or simply reduced to one thing but Shen tries to showcase women in their entirety and mentions when some of them were cruel or unkind or faced sticky ends. For example the pirate Ching Shih, who nailed men to her ship and flogged them to death if they refused to the join her ranks after she defeated their captain and Mata Hari who was killed by a firing squad.

Shen’s aim with writing the book was to entice readers enough that they want to educate themselves further on the women – something that she absolutely achieves. It is, ultimately, a fun and engrossing book that would make an excellent gift.