Review - Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships that Changed History by Sam Maggs

Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships that Changed History by Sam Maggs

Published 2nd October 2018 by Quirk Books

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 37/50

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

A modern girl is nothing without her squad of besties. But don't let all the hashtags fool you: the #girlsquad goes back a long, long time. In this hilarious and heartfelt book, geek girl Sam Maggs takes you on a tour of some of history's most famous female BFFs, including:

• Anne Bonny and Mary Read, the infamous lady pirates who sailed the seven seas and plundered with the best of the men
• Jeanne Manon Roland and Sophie Grandchamp, Parisian socialites who landed front-row seats (from prison) to the French Revolution
• Sharon and Shirley Firth, the First Nations twin sisters who would go on to become Olympic skiers and break barriers in the sport
• The Edinburgh Seven, the band of pals who fought to become the first women admitted to medical school in the United Kingdom
• The Zohra Orchestra, the ensemble from Afghanistan who defied laws, danger, and threats to become the nation's first all-female musical group

And many more! Spanning art, science, politics, activism, and even sports, these girl squads show just how essential female friendship has been throughout history and throughout the world. Sam Maggs brings her signature wit and warmth as she pays tribute to the enduring power of the girl squad. Fun, feisty, and delightful to read—with empowering illustrations by artist Jenn Woodall—it's the perfect gift for your BFF. 

My Thoughts

Non-fiction isn't usually a genre I pick up but I was sent this, unsolicited, from Quirk Books and it sounded intriguing enough for me to want to give it a go and I'm glad that I did. This has definitely got me wanting to read more non-fiction books, especially about bad ass women. Here are my thoughts...

What I liked

•This book was split up into sections about bad ass women in different areas of society including, sports, science, war, politics and the arts. We learnt about a range of different women in each area including some historical and some more recent. The way this book was set out meant you could focus in on the different areas of society and pick out specific aspects if you want to do further research. 

•I enjoyed the way this was written in the most part. Sam Maggs did a great job and not becoming too fact heavy and inserted amongst the writing was her own wit and humour and this made for a fun and enjoyable reading experience. 

•I found this book to be very empowering to woman. I was really surprised that some of these woman and the suppression they are facing is very relevant at this present time. Not only did Sam Maggs write about historical woman and events but also woman still alive today and still facing oppression in this modern time. I feel like I learnt quite a lot. 

What could of been better

•Although I enjoyed the way this was written the majority of the time and it wasn't really fact heavy I did find that sometimes there was a lot of information and dates given at one time and I found myself having to reread paragraphs. I also felt some paragraphs in some sections went a little bit off piste however, she often got back on track very quickly.

Overall, for my first foray into non-fiction writing I found this both very enjoyable and very accessible. There are lots of people in this book that I want to know more about so I will be looking into and definitely picking up more non-fiction in the future. I think I may start with Hidden Figures.

Overall Rating