Simon Sebag Montefiore, a prize-winning historian, and Kate Mosse, an award-winning novelist, dive into the overlooked tales of powerful women throughout history. They discuss how figures like Cleopatra and Boudica have shaped narratives while often being overshadowed by men. The conversation highlights the importance of re-evaluating history to include women's contributions and challenges traditional power dynamics. With humor and insight, they inspire a deeper appreciation for the impact of female warriors and leaders in shaping our world.
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insights INSIGHT
Women's Erasure from History
Women's historical erasure stems from limited access to writing and learning.
Continued exclusion results from a lack of legacy curation after death.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Family History as a Lens
Simon Sebag Montefiore uses family history to provide an intimate perspective on world history.
He treats all families, from the Incas to the Habsburgs, with equal importance.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Theodora's Shifting Image
Procopius wrote three contrasting biographies of Theodora.
These portrayals ranged from prostitute to savior, highlighting how historical narratives can be subjective.
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Simon Sebag Montefiore's "The World: A Family History of Humanity" is a comprehensive and engaging exploration of human history. The book traces the interconnectedness of human societies across continents and millennia, highlighting the common threads that unite us. Montefiore masterfully weaves together political, social, and cultural narratives, providing a rich tapestry of human experience. The book explores the rise and fall of empires, the development of civilizations, and the enduring power of human ingenuity. It offers a fresh perspective on the human story, emphasizing the shared experiences and common destinies of humanity.
Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries
Kate Mosse
Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries is a beautifully illustrated book that offers an alternative feminist history of the world. It highlights the achievements of women across various fields, from science and literature to activism and politics. The book also includes a personal memoir element as Kate Mosse explores the life of her great-grandmother, Lily Watson, a writer who has largely disappeared from historical records.
Powerful women have too often been overlooked by history. Of course we know about Boudica, Cleopatra, Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great. But there are many others whose stories are just as dramatic and deserve to be better known. For this episode of Intelligence Squared, acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of the new book The World: A Family History and the historical novelist Kate Mosse, whose latest publication is Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World, talk about how to reframe the role of women in historical narratives. In conversation with historian and broadcaster Kate Williams they discuss great women from across the globe and the whole span of human history – how they gained power, how they wielded it and how, given that it was largely men who wrote history and often distorted it to suit their own ends, we can establish the truth about these women and celebrate their contribution to the human story.
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