I wanted to love this but I struggled with it. I felt that the book wasn’t sure what it wanted to be history, social commentary….? It’s well researched but not for me I’m afraid.

I’m really enjoying this correction of perception regarding the role women played in history which has gathered traction of the last few years. And I have long been a fan of Dan Jones work. This book is a treat, visually stunning and informative. I enjoyed every moment of it.

My thanks to Head of Zeus Apollo for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘A Woman's World, 1850–1960’ by Dan Jones and Marina Amaral.

This is the third volume in The Colour of Time series containing historical photographs colourised by Marina Amarai, accompanied by mini biographies and connecting material by historian Dan Jones.

As the Introduction states: “This book recounts a history of humanity between 1850 and 1960, told through women’s pictures, lives and experiences. It is designed to serve as a tribute, a tableau, and, in its way, an example. It is a both a conventional history – arranged chronologically and thematically, with an eye for events and important individuals – and a radical one.”

It is divided into eleven sections; each dedicated to a particular theme followed by an Appendix, with the 200 thumbnails images contained in the book in black and white, and finally an index.

Overall, I found this an inspiring celebration of the myriad contributions made by women during this important period of history. It is the kind of book that would make an excellent gift and one that I would also hope to find stocked in public and school libraries.

Highly recommended.

A real piece of history. This book contains a diverse collection of photographs of women across a time span of a hundred years, from Victorians to the Swinging Sixties. These are intimate portraits of actual women, haunting in a lot of cases, brought to life by clever colouring by photographer Marina Amaral. This is the third book in a series utilising photographs from history.

The book attempts to capture the women in all aspects of life from leaders, scientists and innovators, to rights activists and the ordinary women who served in armies and as 'clippies' on the buses. The pictures and accompanying mini biographies are arranged thematically, so there are eleven categories as opposed to a timeline showing how much women's lives developed over the hundred years.

It is a book to dip into as a general guide to the for women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Very accessible, enjoyable and easy to read, but it is the photographs that really make this book. If a picture inspires someone to read a full biography, then so much the better. Fascinating stuff.

This was a brilliant book. I really couldn't put this book down. I just love the pictures which had been changed from black and white to full colours it really brought the pictures to life. It created such an amazing reading experience. Each picture had an explanation of the Woman's significance in history. It was brilliant and so insightful that I learnt so much from reading it. There were so many significant women of the world many of which I had never heard of. I was just so engrossed in this book that I lost track of time and I was so gutted when it ended. The layout was just fantastic with the ladies being put into sections based on there roles. This is certainly a must read book for a history fans. I even think this book should be taught in high school as many women were emitted from history. I really can't recommend this book enough it was that amazing. This book would also look great in any home design, or coffee table book for friends and family to look through. This book could easily be read in bite size chunks that you can go back to time and time again. This book just flowed so well from section to section. I must mentionhow cool the cover is and the index is actuallyin little pictures aswell so you can see them all easier. I actually have everything crossed that they make more books in this series. 

Only the highest of praise goes out to the authors and publishing team for creating such a sensational book that everyone should read. I can't wait to read more books by this pair.

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog yesterday https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/a-woman-s-world-by-dan-jones-marina-amard-head-of-zeus-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

This is basically a list of women and their achievements with photographs. I was disappointed as it lacked depth. It was an interesting reminder of how long women waited for certain rights that we take for granted today. Although grouping by topic had it's merits, time would have been more relevant.
This is an honest review of a complementary ARC.

I picked this as I’ve enjoyed a couple of Dan Jones’s other books, Powers and Thrones (a history of the Middle Ages) and Crusaders. I’d not heard of Marina Amaral before but now I really want to look at some of her work colourising old photographs. Each themed chapter contains short biographies of interesting and often largely forgotten women. It’s therefore perfect for dipping in and out of if you have a short time available to read. It provides a glimpse of a wide range of people but that doesn’t always allow room for all the interesting things they’ve done.
The subjects are a good mix of the very well known and those who should be, among them prolific inventor Lilian Gilbreth, the ridiculously resourceful and unflappable Betha Benz, and Taytu Betul, empress of Ethopia. I was struck by tales of the versatility and intrepidity of some of them. I didn’t know, for example, that Josephine Baker spied for the Allies in the Second World War or that Martha Gellhorn landed in Normandy on D-Day. I particularly enjoyed reading that Helen Rubenstein sold her business to Lehman Brothers but bought it back after the Wall Street Crash for just 20 percent of what she had received. Nice work.
A Woman’s World is a little US- and Europe-heavy but I guess that’s partly down to surviving photos. While the Kindle edition has clear enough images to make it a reasonable option, this is definitely a book that would be better read in hard copy, to take advantage of the colourised photographs that are an integral feature of this series.

An important book that documents the achievements of women in various fields. The pages display a single image and text on the particular woman and the book is arranged in chapters;
Women at Play,
Women at School,
etc

So many women during this time worked hard and were not always recognised or respected. Lovely book to dip into and learn about them and be inspired to find out more.
Third volume in the series and well worth a read, enjoy.

What a fabulous book! Packed full of widely historical pictures of women throughout the ages being amazing!

Really interesting. I liked the organisation into thematic chapters. Great to see these women brought to life.

An amazing, informative, and visually stunning book that I loved and made me learn something new about women's roles in the past.
Well known and anonymous women, great pictures and interesting text.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Historian Dan Jones has written a timely book about the achievements of unsung women whose contributions throughout history to areas such as women’s rights, science, engineering, health and society in general have been overlooked. The book contains a mix of famous women alongside less-well known ones, and the accompanying photographs by Marina Amaral really bring these heroines to life.
On the whole, it was very interesting to read about such creative and intelligent people and I strongly recommend this book.

A Woman’s World 1850-1960 is an amazing archive of women whose contributions to women’s rights, science, engineering, health and society has been largely overlooked for too long. The book contained the well-known as well as a lot that I had no idea about, all with accompanying coloured photographs. It was a joy and a privilege to read about these intelligent and enterprising people.

A fascinating read that spans a century celebrating the inspiring and ground-breaking achievements of women in the worlds of sports, arts, science, politics, fashion, etc.
It is an important historical compilation that contains beautifully colour-restored versions of the original black and white photographs. It would grace any bookshelf (or coffee table).

I loved the quote by Martha Gellhorn (wife of Ernest Hemingway): “Why should I merely be a footnote in his life?”
My thoughts? The world would be a poorer place had the women featured here reverted to stereotype.

Thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

‘Welcome to A Woman’s World.’

This is the third book in a series, a collaboration between historian Dan Jones and Marina Amaral, a digital colourist who specializes in adding colour to black and white photographs: ‘breathing life into the past’.

While I have not yet read the other two books in this series, I was intrigued to find out which women would be included. There are eleven headings used, covering the cultural, domestic, professional and social roles played by women:
Women at Play
Women in School
Women at the Wheel
Women at War
Women in Charge
Women in the Arts
Women in the Streets
Women on Stage
Women in the Wild
Women on the Shop floor
Women in White Coats.

I was delighted to see Fanny Cochrane Smith’s inclusion. In 1899 and 1903 she recorded songs on wax cylinders: held in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, these are the only recordings ever made of Tasmanian Aboriginal song and speech.

While I recognised the names of many of the women and their stories, there were other women I had not heard of. The women covered include: Margaret Mead, Eva Peron, Virginia Woolf, Marie Curie, Anna J Cooper, Dr Hü King Eng , Agnes Maitland, Edith Cavell, Martha Gellhorn, Rosa Parks, Sunity Devee, Frida Kahlo and Gertrude Bell.

‘We give you this compilation in the spirit that we first imagined it: as a bright and colourful journey through a great historical age, in the company of some of the most brilliant people who lived in it!’

An interesting look at the contribution of women across many different fields before second-wave feminism.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for
review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

A lovely book full of beautiful pictures of some of the most important women in history, most I didn’t even know about! I loved the quick biographies accompanying each photo and went away to read more about some of the women.
Like Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls…for women!

A Women's World , 1850-1960 by Dan Jones & Marina Amaral

A absolute must read , a copy should be in every library, and education establishment.
It was very interesting to educate myself on the great women this book introduces us to, many I had not heard about before.
5 stars.