Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women

Throughouthistorywomenhavecausedwars,defiedtherules,andbroughtmentotheirknees.Thefamousandtheinfamous,queens,divorcées,actresses,andoutlawshavecreatedaruckusduringtheirlifetimes-turningheadswhilemakingwaves.ScandalousWomentellsthestoriesoftherisktakerswhohavefloutedconvention,beatentheodds,anddeterminedthecourseofworldevents.*WhenCleopatra(69BC-30BC)wasn'tbathinginasses'milk,thelastpharaohofthePtolemaicdynastyruledEgyptandforgedanimportantpoliticalalliancewithRomeagainstherenemies-untilherdalliancewithMarcAntonyturnedtheempireagainsther.*EmilieduCh?telet(1706-1748),amathematician,physicist,author,andparamourofoneofthegreatestmindsinFrance,Voltaire,shockedsocietywithherunorthodoxlifestyleandintellectualprowess-andbecamealeaderinthestudyoftheoreticalphysicsinFranceatatimewhenthescienceswereruledbymen.*LongbeforeRosaParksrefusedtogiveupherseatonthebus,IdaB.Wells-Barnett(1862-1928)foughttoenddiscriminationandtheterriblecrimeoflynchingandhelpedfoundtheNAACP,butbecameknownasadifficultwomanforherrefusaltocompromiseandwaslargelylostintheannalsofhistory.*GertrudeBell(1868-1926)hadapassionforarchaeologyandlanguages,andleftherprivilegedworldbehindtobecomeoneoftheforemostchroniclersofBritishimperialismintheMiddleEast,andoneofthearchitectsofthemodernnationofIraq.