Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey - Couverture souple

Alpern, Stanley B.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0814707726 ISBN 13 : 9780814707722

Editeur : New York University Press, 2011

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

History is rife with tales of fighting women. More often than not, these stories prove more legend than history. Dating back to the Amazons of ancient Asia Minor, myths of fierce, autonomous women of martial excellence abound. The only thoroughly documented amazons in world history are those who fought for the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Yet no book had appeared about them in English until Stanley Alpern filled that surprising and deplorable gap with Amazons of Black Sparta, a fact-filled narrative. Originally palace guards, the Dahomean amazons evolved into royal bodyguards and, by the 1760s or 70s, into professional troops armed mainly with muskets, machetes and clubs. Theoretically wives of the king and quartered in his palaces, they were sworn to celibacy. In compensation they enjoyed a semi-sacred status and numerous privileges, including their own slaves. In the 1840s, the number of amazons swelled from hundreds to as many as 6,000 as Dahomey sought to offset a huge manpower advantage held by its chief trading rivals, the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria. Under Gezo, Dahomey s greatest king (1818-58), the previously topless women warriors were dressed in uniforms and became the frontline shock troops of the army, a role they would perform with distinction until the kingdom's final defeat by France in 1892. They served in their own units under their own women officers, with their own marching bands, flags and insignia. Intensively trained, they outdrilled, outshot and outfought their more numerous male comrades. Renowned for their ferocity and fearlessness, they terrified neighboring peoples, and proved the martial potential of women in general. The product of meticulous archival research, Amazons of Black Sparta is defined by Alpern's gift for narrative and will stand as the most comprehensive and accessible account of the woman warriors of Dahomey.

Revue de presse :

'...and today they [the Amazons] exist as no more than footnotes to history. Only one scholarly work has been written about these women, Amazons of Black Sparta by Stanley B. Alpern.' --Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

'Alpern does very well in assembling most of the evidence about these intimidating women whose courage impressed even the Foreign Legion. He produces a very detailed picture from a wide variety of European and African sources. He provides a readable narrative of Dahoman military history from the state's origins to its defeat by France in 1892, as well as providing a mass of information on what these women wore, ate and sang, how they were recruited, trained and mobilised.' --The Times

Alpern has written an impressively comprehensive study covering all aspects of this extraordinary military force - he describes them in fascinating detail - Altogether he has made an important scholarly contribution to the history of nineteenth-century West Africa in which the Amazon achievement has until now been scarcely mentioned.' --Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: New York University Press
• Date d'édition: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0814707726
• ISBN 13: 9780814707722
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 294