Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Fearless by Zachary Hill. This is an unscholarly book about the amazing women found in history. It uses humor to examine the lives of these hard core, butt-kicking women that stood up against the Man in their own way. Some used swords and others used words, but each had courage. This book is This is an unscholarly book about the amazing women found in history. This book is inspired from the website, Minimumwagehistorian. Some of them are biased, some untrustworthy and others are lunatics.
Each has their own slant on history and help us understand these women's stories. Kindle Edition , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Fearless , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Jan 30, Kelly Knapke rated it did not like it. I hated this book. I read some of the negative reviews but the subject matter and writing style appealed to me so I gave it a shot.
There are inconsistencies with the dating system used throughout the book, sometimes using AD and other times CE, other times not using it at all, and not always capitalizing it, minor things I know, but seriously? I was also not a fan of the dialogue panel of other historical figures, because for the most part they were used to drop in pop culture references.
The a I hated this book. The author clearly denotes that it is a non scholarly work but after reading him refer to some male figure as studly, which I haven't heard used by anyone over the age of sixteen in twelve years, I was ready to see if I could still return the book. Dec 14, Liz rated it it was ok Shelves: I wanted to like this more than I did. The concept of a panal discussing or interviewing historical characters is an interesting and potentially fun idea.
I love history and agree with Hill that it doesn't have to be boring. But it doesn't need to be dumbed down, modernized and exagerated to be interesting. Instrad of letting the details speak for themselves, Hill told the most shallow versions of these women's life stories possible, and tried to compensate by having quirky characters serve as p I wanted to like this more than I did.
Instrad of letting the details speak for themselves, Hill told the most shallow versions of these women's life stories possible, and tried to compensate by having quirky characters serve as panalists. It seems the author hoped that these panalists would capture attention, instead of telling the stories in a captivating way. It was a pretty big cop-out. Especially since one of these panalists lied throughout the book. How does that add to a history book?
The way some of these panalists were treated bordered on racism. None of the panalists were native English speakers in their lifetimes, but the Native American, Russian and Japanese panalists were written with steriotypical accents.
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If the author had done this with every panalist, it might have made sense. But why just those panalists? There are many better books about these women. You don't need to dumb down things to make them interesting. It seems Hill didn't know that. Aug 25, Shannon Guymon rated it it was amazing. A fun and irreverent look at history with a crazy cast of historical characters that guide the reader through history. This book finds women that were hugely influential and stood up for themselves against all odds.
Some are well known like Joan of Arc and Hua Mulan. Others are seldom mentioned in history like Anna Komemne and Tomoe Gozen. Less known, yes, but all kicked butt in their own way. Jan 12, Joyce added it. This is a really fun way to read about famous and not so famous women in history. Zachary Hill makes these characters seem to live! Lear rated it it was amazing Jan 18, ChaChanna Simpson rated it it was amazing Sep 17, He was a true Warr ior Poet that always sought peace.
He loved to play games and spending time with his family and friends. Zack was also a Traveler. He adventured in other countries. He served his two year mission for his Church in Mexico and he taught English in Japan, and spent time in Italy. He served his Country in the darkest places in Iraq. We believe that he too is grieving for having to leave behind his friends, his family and his new bride. He would not have wanted to leave her now.
But he was called back to his celestial home far too early. Our Father in Heaven has a plan for Zack, as he does for all of us. We take comfort that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can be together forever. Instead of flowers, please go to Amazon. Through his writing, Zack will always be remembered.
Donations to help support his bride can be made here. While Zack is gone… His legacy will continue. As will Minimum Wage Historian, though differently. We will strive to cover the topics that he would have liked. Zach — Welcome back to Minimum Wage Historian. Zach — Well, the job was a bit heavy on the hours and I had to write a novel and a short story for an upcoming anthology.
Anna — You should never be too busy for history. My co-host is Zach. Zach — During my travels around the world, I stopped by a place called Cahokia. I never learned of it in school or after. It seems completely forgotten, like most actual Native American history. Pine Leaf — Most people seem to think that Native American history was a bunch of hippies running around the forest communing with nature and thinking about peace.
It turns out our history is a bit more complex than that.
A large Indian city in North America? It was a large walled city with suburbs, monumental architecture, a complex society and specialty artisans. With a population as large as 20, it lasted from to AD. This was no mere trading post. They had vast farm fields, workshops including blacksmiths and artisans and other cities surrounding it. The government was a stratified system of ruling elite families with a priest-king at the top. He was known as the Sun King. The different neighborhoods were organized by large clans. Rich people had their large houses on mounds.
Other mounds served other purposes. More on that later. Anna — They also had extensive trading routes and had stuff from all over the continent. The copper they used in their blacksmith shops came from the Great Lakes area. It had been abandoned by the time the Monks came alone. At the very top was the house of the chief priest.
And I can attest that the view was amazing. You can see St. Louis in the distance. Look close and you can see the arch. The mound is surprisingly tall. The city would have spread out in all directions from this view. Pine Leaf — Now that is actually a question we have a specific answer for.
They played a game called Chunkey. Chiefs and other important people were buried with the instruments of the game. Those little stone disks have been found everywhere along the Mississippi. It would be like finding golf balls all over the ruins of a modern city. Scipio — Yes, yes. But enough with squash and games. What about the warfare?
There were walls to the city, that meant there was a need for the walls. Cahokia had enemies and that means war. Zach — Yes, indeed. There were extensive walls around the city center. No center of trade, religion and power goes without enemies. The walls had towers placed along its length and during the years they changed shape.
The walls were covered in stucco, probably to prevent weathering and fire damage. And probably to make them look cooler. Gaspar — Well, this is why you have me around. Gaspar — The great Stone Ogre War. The Ogres of the Stone Tribe allied with the water serpents that lived deep within the earth. They emerged from the river and invaded the outskirts. The brave warriors held them at the walls as the ogres hurled boulders. I remember one time during the Carthaginian campaign…. Pine Leaf — Oh my word. We mentioned that Cahokia was a religious center.
What was the religion like? Well, we know they worshiped a deity or spirit we call the Bird Man. The Priest King wielded earthly and spiritual power. He led the noble families and the clan leaders. When a priest was buried he was often buried with members of his family.
The burial mounds often contain the bodies of people who had been ritually killed to help the leader in the afterlife. They also built a giant calendar, called Woodhenge, like Stonehenge in England. Posts marked the travel of the sun and important holidays and festivals. Aside from seasonal parties, they also needed to know when to plant and harvest.
Zach — I had the opportunity to travel back in time to the village just to give you all a glimpse of what it was like. Anna — Umm…you went to the cultural center at Cahokia. A great one, but not real. The different clan neighborhoods had their own community centers where they gathered for meetings, ceremonies and also had food storage areas. Despite the metropolitan vibe of the place, there is evidence of starvation, probably due to too many people and not enough food storage during the winters. Another bad habit Cahokia had was deforestation of the local area.
As they cut down the trees for buildings and fuel, their hunting grounds grew smaller and smaller. Their city was also organized along these lines. Gaspar — And you too can visit this amazing place. You can walk where thousands of Natives lived and worked. As in, punches trolls to death. And I, as the most senor historian here, will answer them. The South was powerless to penetrate the Shield. Now, the Confederate capital of Richmond had a different defense.
As we know, Richmond is situated on a hill by a river. Very defensible, but not enough to defend against the armies of the North. With their aristocratic tradition of sorcerer plantation owners they managed to form a barricade of stone golems from the hill and water elementals from the river. So, Frenchie, I hope that answers your question. This letter…e-mail, is from a woman in Florida. Funny name for a place.
Were the stories of his traveling in disguise true? This happens to be a subject I know a great deal about. Yes, he did travel throughout Europe in disguise. As an undead revenant he had to hide his hideous nature as he traveled the world searching out arcane secrets. Not only did he search for ancient spells to prolong his life, but he also searched for the magic machinery that will add strength to his armies and increase food production. He had drained the life out of too many of his peasants and needed more efficiency in the farm work.
With the secrets he bought, stole and killed for, he was able to bring Russia to the big boy table of European politics. His armies of undead driven steam mechs marched across the steppes of Russia. Peter the Great improved the power of Russia, but at the cost of the souls of his subjects. It was their start as the hegemon of Europe. But what if their invasion of Carthage had failed? It had been a gamble. Carthegenian armies were rampaging around Spain and Italy and yet Rome launched a surprise invasion of Carthage.
The gamble paid off and Rome razed Carthage and salted the earth to prevent anything growing there. But if they lost, things would be different. Carthage would dictate terms to Rome and hold them under their economic thumb. Rome would never develop as a super power. The Greek states would continue in their internecine wars and eventually be swallowed by their powerful Persian neighbors. Carthage would control North Africa and possibly Spain as well.
This new eastern Mediterranean state would control trade in the area and possibly have served as a bulwark against the rise of the Islamic Empire. The German tribes would overrun Europe without the civilizing influences of Rome and the Dark Ages would have been far longer and far darker. History would have been much different. The language of learning would be Persian or Carthagenian and Europeans would send their best and brightest to the southern universities.
The future would be full of promise and competition between the east and west, though those two terms would then mean something quite different. Now, a Joyce from South Carolina writes: These French knights wanted to go on a Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims.
See a Problem?
But they had no money. So they went to the Venetians to work out a deal for transportation. The situation there was weak and the Venetian doge, Dandalo saw an opportunity. He convinced the Crusaders to attack Constantinople. They proceeded to attack the largest Christian city in the world all for money and power. The Venetians knew what know one else did, that Constantinople had been taken over by steam powered robots invented by Archimedes. His creations went on to become self aware. They learned to mimic humans and gained power in Constantinople.
They took over the government, military and were poised to launch a marine invasion of Europe. An army of killer automatons were being prepared and if the Venetians could attack before the army was activated they could save Christendom.
Pics from “Fearless: Powerful Women of History.”
The Byzantine Empress in her true form. Hundreds of years old and a burning hatred of humanity. Then the poor Crusaders came along and they saw their answer. Yes, they used the Crusaders, but it was for a most necessary cause. Gaspar here, just reminding you that Zach wrote a work of fiction, something I could never do. It has something to do with… reads from paper a Lovecraftian urban fantasy set in Miskatonic University. Sounds lame but maybe you might like it. Check it out here.
Fearless: Powerful Women of History
Anna Komnene — Welcome to another exciting episode and we have one of the most horrible and destructive wars in European history. The cyborg army tore across northern Italy and besieged Bucharest for thirty years until the Holy Roman Emperor sacrificed all of his necromancers to return all his dead soldiers into…. Anna — Just stop. Anna — To understand the Thirty Years War, we have to understand how it started. The war took place mostly in Germany and involved armies of ruthless mercenaries that rapped and pillaged their way across the countryside.
First, let me explain the Holy Roman Empire. It was made up of a thousand semi-independent duchies, lordships, cities and baronies. Everything from the countries of Austria and Hungary to small towns. Anna — Not only were all these semi-independent countries scrambling for political power and being influenced outside powers, they were also divided by religion. There were Catholics, Lutherans and the newcomers, the Calvinists. And they all hated each other. The highest ranking nobles were called Elector Counts and they were the ones that voted for the Holy Roman Emperor.
The Emperors were traditionally Catholic and they had a tendency to not let the other religions practice their beliefs. Many of the counts had converted to Protestantism and pushed back against the catholic leaders. And to add to the confusion, many of the lands within the Empire were owned by the powerful family, the Hapsburgs.
This same family also owned Spain and parts of Italy. They owned countries like personal property. These same Hapsburgs really wanted to get the Dutch Republic back under their control. They had revolted and another fragile peace existed. Everyone knew the Spanish were just biding time until they could invade the Republic again. You, um…may notice his chin and under-bite. Yeah, the Hapsburgs had a habit of marrying close relatives. Pine Leaf Woman — So it went back and forth with the different religions fighting for who would be top dog.
Well, as this was going on the Emperor, Matthias would die without leaving an heir…a silly way to run a government if you ask me. So, before he died he named his cousin, Ferdinand as the next Emperor. Three was a problem though. Gaspar — Ferdinand was vampire. At night he would venture out and create more vampire spawn that would spread across the Germanic countryside. Ferdinand created a new Vampire aristocracy that ran things from the shadows.
Long story, but Ferdinand was elected as Emperor. Anna — No, not good. One of the worst, most pointless wars ever is about to occur. The Bohemian revolt only grew and spread to neighboring countries. It was as if all the pent up anger and hatred over religion finally burst. Ferdinand called on his cousin, the king of Spain to come lend assistance. Pine Leaf Woman — Makes sense. Get into trouble, call your tribe. But then the rebels went looking for allies and found the Protestant Union led by a man that was also in line to be Holy Roman Emperor….
Anyway, the name of this man was Fredrick V. They promised this Fredrick that he would be king of Bohemia if he helped them in their revolt. Anna — In spite of this, the rebels did get support from other German countries, mostly in Austria and the rebellion grew. All very traditional requiring less training than shield walls and bows but more training in unit cohesion and tactics. Gaspar — This revolt spread outside of Germany. Elizabeth Stuart in England had people rally to her and in Transylvania a prince with the help of the Ottoman Empire launched attacks against Catholic countries.
Frederick went to the Ottomans for more direct support and the Ottomans offered cavalry and attacked Poland which was supporting the Catholic Hapsburgs. Their war went back and forth with no clear winner. Anna — Thank you, Gaspar for sticking to actual history. Finally the Holy Roman Emperor moved his forces to counter the rebellion. And at the battle of Sablat in he defeated the Protestant Union. Then the Spanish joined the war along with the Saxons creating an even bigger mess. Instead of tightly controlled field battles where one army forces another army off the field and declared victory, we have the emerging theory of total war.
No more honorable lords looking for the enemy general, instead we had armies and bands of mercenaries that were paid by whatever loot they could pillage. They massacred towns and stole entire crops from villages leaving the people starving in famine. Armies got larger, which cost more money and bankrupted entire countries. Also, the larger armies were harder to control which led to more criminal acts and bands of villains roaming the countryside.
Gaspar — Another change in military affairs was that the armies grew more professional. The war lasted so long that government soldiers became an actual profession.
The veterans passed down their knowledge and the manuevers grew more sophisticated and complex. The cavalry charges had to strike in conjunction with the gunners and retreat while the pikemen moved forward. All had to be timed just right to work. They had arquebuses with heavy armor, powder charges and uniforms. The powder charges reminds Zach of his magazine pouches in Iraq.
It was disastrous for the rebels and the Hapsburgs ended up keeping Bohemia until they inbred themselves out of existence. Well, the Hapsburgs moved in and confiscated property from rebel leaders and Protestants and were basically jerks. Under the thumb of the Catholics it was pretty much the end of the Hussites. Anna — This begins a new phase of the war. The battles get a little smaller as the Spanish and other Catholic armies try to invade rebel territory.
The Dutch enter the war in greater force bringing their highly trained armies. Gaspar — So, basically we have all these armies going all over the place from Italy, to Austria to the Netherlands. Anna — A very abbreviated version, but not wrong. Pine Leaf Woman — It should all be nice and peaceful now, right?
Because you Europeans are allergic to peace, the Huguenots in France decided to rise up in rebellion. Louis began persecuting them and in response the Huguenots armed themselves and formed into militias to protect themselves. They also formed their own military structure and eventually their own government that tried to negotiate with foreign powers. The leader of the Huguenots was named Duc de Rohan and he wanted open war with the French crown.
Pine Leaf Woman — Too bad that this rebellion was not edifying for either side. Both the Crown and the rebels committed many atrocities and massacres. When both sides got tired, they drew up a treaty with no winners. Cardinal Richelieu at the siege of La Rochelle. Anna — The war in the Netherlands grew hotter as the Spanish troops tried to reestablish control over what they considered a rebel province much like how the modern Chinese consider Taiwan.
Even the Scottish sent down troops to fight the Spanish. Gaspar — And then things got crazier. The Huguenots rebelled again, Poland was at war with Sweden and other rebellions and little wars erupted all over. Anna — The Holy Roman Empire tried to bully the smaller countries and somehow found itself invaded by Sweden. War waged all over Europe and almost everyone was involved.