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She Kills Me

The True Stories of History's Deadliest Women

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
A powerful collection of stories about women who murdered—for revenge, for love, and even for pleasure—rife with historical details that will have any true crime junkie on the edge of their seat
In every tragic story, men are expected to be the killers. There are countless studies and works of art made about male violence. However, when women are featured in stories about murder, they are rarely portrayed as predators. They're the prey. This common dynamic is one of the reasons that women are so enthralled by female murderers. They do the things that women aren't supposed to do and live the lives that women aren't supposed to want: lives that are impulsive and angry and messy and inconvenient. Maybe we feel bad about loving them, but we eat it up just the same. Residing squarely in the middle of a Venn diagram of feminism and true crime, She Kills Me tells the story of 40 women who murdered out of necessity, fear, revenge, and even for pleasure.
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    • Library Journal

      July 1, 2021

      Conversations about murderers tend to focus on men--Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein--but author and journalist Wright (We Came First; It Ended Badly) sets the record straight here. She argues that women kill and have killed for millennia and for reasons as varied as those of men who kill. Wright pinpoints 40 women across history and from around the globe who had the means, opportunity, and motive to take out someone (or several someones), including Elizabeth Bathory, a sadistic 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman who preyed on village girls; Ching Shih (1775-1844), a Chinese pirate who punished disobedient followers with death and was even more ruthless with her enemies; and Celia (no surname), an enslaved Black woman in the U.S. who in 1855 killed the man who had enslaved and raped her. Each account is brief, an amuse-bouche for readers interested in crimes perpetrated by women. VERDICT This book of bite-size essays will appeal to fans of crime podcasts such as My Favorite Murder. Recommended for libraries seeking to diversify their true crime collections.--Ahliah Bratzler, Indianapolis

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      September 24, 2021
      A serious subject, women who kill, gets a jaunty treatment by author Wright. Brief essays give an overview of women who committed murder for a variety of reasons but with a common thread of bucking the patriarchy. Often these acts of murder were out of revenge, like when Maria Barbella slit her rapist's throat and Boudica fought the Romans after they pillaged her village. Celia, an enslaved woman, beat her enslaver to death. But some women killers were actually just psychopaths, like Delphine LaLaurie, whose favorite pastime was torturing enslaved people. Grouped by theme (such as Killer Queens, Pretty Poisoners, and Black Widows), each essay begins with a colorful illustration by Eva Bee and helpful trigger warnings. Wright likes to keep it humorous, which mostly suits the sketches but sometimes feels out of place and could turn some folks off. Readers who want to just dip their toes in the lady-killer pool will be most pleased with this book and will likely find at least a couple of subjects they want to explore further.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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