The warrior queens: Boadicea's chariot - Antonia Fraser

From the pacific to the belligerent, they include Catherine the Great, Elizabeth I, Isabella of Spain, the Rani of Jhansi and Queen Jinga of Angola. Antonia Fraser's warrior queens are those women who have both ruled and led in war. Taking Boadicea as the definitive example, her choice of female champions from other ages and civilizations aims to present an awesome assembly.;This book is more than a biographical selection however, the author is interested in the way that her heroines have held and wrested the reins of power from their - consistently male - adversaries.;If Boadicea's apocryphal chariot has ensured her place in history, what then are the myths that surround the others? And how different are the democratically elected - if less regal - warrior queens of our own time: Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher?;Antonia Fraser is the author of three historical biographies: "Mary Queen of Scots", "Cromwell: Our Chief of Men" and "King Charles II". She has also written "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" and "The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England".