A book to avoid...

It is a rare day when I decide to stop reading a book; one of those days happened this week.  Usually I do not pick up a book unless I am fairly certain I want to read it.  Uppity Women of Shakespearean Times by Vicki Leon was a gift from someone.  I knew it was meant to be humorous and started reading it with the idea that I would have a laugh and pass it on.  I read about 37 pages and stopped.  The tone of this book was too flippant for me.  I cannot read about these women being treated as if they were simply amusing anecdotes.

A chapter entitled “The Better to Eat Chocolate With” discusses the Hapsburg family:

But the true family curse was The Lip (in point of fact, the entire jaw).  Populations of good-sized cities could have taken shelter under a Hapsburg chin.  Wobbly and red as cherry Jell-O, The Lip made many males of the family look moronic.  So you can just imagine how Princess Anna of Austria and all the other Hapsburg Annas, Marys, Elizabeths, and Christines felt when they looked in a mirror. 

Among other thankless tasks, Anna married King Louis XIII, produced a Louie heir, and ran France as queen regent from 1643 to 1661.  Spanish-born Anna brought new ideas to the French court.  Naturally they all tittered when she first lifted a cup of some dirty brown substance to those Austria-sized lips.  But Anna persisted, jutting out a chin that would stun Jay Leno into silence.  (34)

This description of hot chocolate is mild in its offense.  Imagine the chapters that make light of abuse including but not limited to women accused of witchcraft and used as brood bitches.

            I love satire and could accept well-written examples, but to show a reproduction of an ancient woodcarving with a man holding a leash attached to a metal cage over a woman’s face accompanied with the caption, “Hmm—is this what they mean by humanism?” is beyond acceptable (2).

            The book cover credits Ms. Leon with 26 books including Uppity Women of Ancient Times and Uppity Women of Medieval Times.  I will not be looking for or even at any other books by Vicki Leon.  “She enjoys giving workshops and speeches on the unsung women of history.”  No, thank you.  I do NOT want to hear what she has to say.

Leon, Vicki.  Uppity Women of Shakespearean Times. New York: MJF Books, 1999. Print.