Book Review: Lawbreaking Ladies: 50 Tales of Daring, Defiant, and Dangerous Women from History by Erika Owen

Lawbreaking Ladies: 50 Tales of Daring, Defiant, and Dangerous Women from History by Erika Owen is a nonfiction book that tackles a wide range of law breaking ladies. Many of us are familiar with the popular slogan “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” But that adage is taken to the next level in this book, which looks at women from the past who weren’t afraid to break the law or challenge gender norms. From pirates to madams, gamblers to bootleggers, and serial killers to outlaws, women throughout the ages haven’t always decided to be sugar, spice, and everything nice. These are the stories of 50 remarkable women whose rebellious and often criminal acts ought to solidify their place in history, including: the swashbuckling pirate Ching Shih,  “Queen of the Bootleggers” Gloria de Casares,  the Prohibition-era gangster Stephanie Saint-Clair, and a band of prisoners who came to be known as the Goree Girls. Some were breaking laws for good reasons, while others were downright dangerous.

Lawbreaking Ladies is an interesting and entertaining read. I like that the author makes the effort to keep everything in the context of the laws and social climate of the time the specific crimes took place. Prohibition, abuse, unjust laws, and more had a role to play in some of the crimes- but in some cases the why's will never really make sense. I also like that the women featured are from a variety of countries and times, and their stories and situations are varied. It was clear that a great deal of research and care went into this book. The book was well organized, and the writing was very accessible and easy to follow.  I found each story to be very independent from the rest of the book, even in each subsection, for instance in the section about gambling ladies the city of Deadwood is mentions in mos everyone's story and the familiarity of the name is addresses but in the context of travel rather than how many ladies profiled in a row had spent time there. I enjoyed the read, and appreciated the inclusion of sources and proper citation. It is a shame how often that gets forgotten. I will be reading some of the resources used by the author to delve deeper into some of the stories and times that interested me the most.

Lawbreaking Ladies is a well researched, written, and organized resource. I think many readers will appreciate it.