Thursday, August 4, 2016

Book Review: The Secret History of Wonder Woman

TITLE: The Secret History of Wonder Woman
AUTHOR: Jill Lepore
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Biography/Pop-Culture commentary
PUBLISHED: 2014
PREMISE: A researcher goes into detailed history about the creation of Wonder Woman by looking into the life of her creator.
MY REVIEW: I kind of suspect this book might not be for everyone. If you're looking for a book that is strictly about Wonder Woman herself...this probably isn't for you. It does go into Wonder Woman and the history behind her creation. But first and foremost it is about her creator, William Marsten and his life and how that life heavily influenced her story.
I personally, loved this book. It is detailed. Possibly more then it needs to be, but it gives you all the necessary info to help you understand how exactly Wonder Woman came to be. As a bonus, you even get some suffragist history because Marsten himself was greatly influenced by the suffragist movement. When fanboys inevitably try to tell you Wonder Woman isn't supposed to be feminist when the movie comes out, hand them this book. Highlight the parts where it says that was actually Marsten's entire intention with her.
As a non-fiction book, this is well written, detailed, and well organized. Some people apparently think all the detail is a bad thing, but I think it added to the book. But to each their own I guess. If you are interested in feminism history, like seeing how pop culture figures got created, then this book is for you.
WHO SHOULD READ: Wonder Woman fans, history fans, biography fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five fingers crossed in the hopes that the Wonder Woman movie is good

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