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A riveting work of historical detection, revealing that the origins of one the world's most iconic Superheroes hides within it a fascinating family story - and a crucial history of twentieth-century feminism.
Jill Lepore is a professor of American history at Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her books include Book of Ages, a finalist for the National Book Award; New York Burning, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; The Name of War, winner of the Bancroft Prize; and The Mansion of Happiness, which was short-listed for the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
‘All superheroes have strange myths of origin, but the politically
and erotically charged back-story of Wonder Woman outstrips any
comic book. Jill Lepore unmasks the comic-strip heroine as the
strange daughter of early 20th-century women’s suffrage and the
bondage-fixated imagination of William Moulton Marston, a
hucksterish psychologist who invented the lie-detector test and
lived in a covert threesome with his wife and girlfriend … A
startling and intelligent double biography.’
*Sunday Times*
‘The book I read most eagerly and discussed most avidly in 2014 was
The Secret History of Wonder Woman ... Lepore is among the
most productive, intellectually invigorating and surprising
cultural critics in the US’
*Times Literary Supplement 'Books of 2014'*
‘In pursuit of Wonder Woman, Jill Lepore has tackled archives,
interviewed contemporaries and dug through court transcripts,
college records, the literature of the early 20th-century
suffragism and the annals of Wonder Woman and her rivals. The
result is a tour de force.’
*Literary Review*
'Jill Lepore’s obsessively researched book on Wonder Woman, the
four-color embodiment of the women’s rights movement, reveals that
the life of the character’s creator, Dr. William Marston — inventor
of the lie detector, charming crank, ardent feminist and secret
polygamist — was waaay more colorful than any comic book superhero.
Suffering Sappho!'
*Art Spiegelman, author of Maus*
‘Hugely entertaining … Lepore teases out [connections] between
Wonder Woman, the early-20th-century women’s movement, and
Marston’s fascinating life and odd psyche, in which the liberation
of women somehow got all mixed up with bondage and spanking.’
*The Atlantic*
'An absolutely unputdownable book. The life history of polymath
charlatan and/or genius (I couldn’t ever decide) William Moulton
Marston, who worked his way through law, movie scenarios, lie
detection, ménages a trois, free love, BDSM and polygamy before
creating the first feminist super-person had me saying "wow"
practically every other page. And that’s not even mentioning the
tough-as-nails women he exalted, lifted from and, uh, shared who
make up the molten core of this newly-revealed story. Rocketing
from the suffragism of the 1910s to the ERA of the 1970s on a wave
of home-spun pop culture righteousness, this story’s head-spinning
weirdness ultimately makes you question your own accomplishments,
aims, and — almost like a great modern novel — your real
motives.'
*Chris Ware, author of Building Stories and Jimmy Corrigan*
‘All credit to Jill Lepore for simultaneously rescuing Wonder Woman
from indifference, establishing her as an expression of first-wave
feminism and introducing her creator, who must be one of the more
repellent individuals ever to call himself a feminist … Terrific
reading.’
*The Observer*
'I love writers (and, indeed superheroines) who balance muscularity
with intellect, surface charisma with depth, passion with politics.
Lepore's achievements are even more likely to pass into greatness
and myth than Wonder Woman's, so when the two of them meet, as they
do here in the pages of a book, it's a thrilling adventure.'
*Bidisha*
‘Seamlessly combining rigorous scholarship and riveting
readability, this richly rewarding book illuminates the histories
of a problematic comics icon. A must-read.’
*SFX Magazine*
‘More than a treat for comic fans, Lepore’s superb book is for
anyone interested in the social history of America.’
*Scotland on Sunday*
'What Lepore does so well is to show how Wonder Woman’s career
mirrored the hopes, progress, and eventual disappointments of the
American women’s movement in the 20th century … There’s a new
Wonder Woman movie coming in 2017. If Lepore’s “secret history” has
proved one thing, it’s that at least so far each era has gotten the
Wonder Woman it deserves.'
*The Boston Globe*
‘This book is several things at once: a history of Wonder Woman’s
creator, Marston; a reflection on the themes underpinning the
comic; and an exploration of how it was influenced by the early
women’s suffrage and reproductive rights movements … Where [The
Secret History of Wonder Woman] shines is in laying bare how
explicitly political the comic book was always intended to be.’
*New Statesman*
’Enthralling … It is hard to do justice to the many layers of this
wonderful book. Meticulously detailed and lovingly constructed, it
is part biography, part social history, part detective story. Above
all, it is a portrait of an extraordinary family – and the women
who made the man who made Wonder Woman.’
*Daily Mail*
‘Cultural history doesn’t get more enthralling.’
*Times Higher Education Supplement 'Books of 2014'*
‘A meticulously researched account on the life and influences of
the female superhero’s eccentric male creator.’
*Financial Times*
‘This eye-opening cultural history delves into the marvelously
eccentric life of William Moulton Marston: psychologist, early
feminist, inventor of the lie detector, sexual non-conformist and
creator of Wonder Woman … An extraordinary story, very well
told.’
*The Bookseller 'Non Fiction Book of the Month December 2014'*
‘Ms. Lepore’s lively, surprising and occasionally salacious history
is far more than the story of a comic strip. The author, a
professor of history at Harvard, places Wonder Woman squarely in
the story of women’s rights in America — a cycle of rights won,
lost and endlessly fought for again … Her superb narrative brings
that history vividly into the present, weaving individual lives
into the sweeping changes of the century.’
*Wall Street Journal*
‘The Secret History of Wonder Woman is as racy, as improbable, as
awesomely righteous, and as filled with curious devices as an
episode of the comic book itself. In the nexus of feminism and
popular culture, Jill Lepore has found a revelatory chapter of
American history. I will never look at Wonder Woman’s bracelets the
same way again.’
*Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home*
‘Wonderfully vivid … Intertwining biography, history and fiction,
this is about much more than a comic book character.’
*Prospect*
‘The Secret History of Wonder Woman is the fullest and most
fascinating portrait ever created about the complicated,
unconventional family that inspired one of the most enduring
feminist icons in pop culture … In [Lepore’s] hands, The Secret
History of Wonder Woman is its own magic lasso, one that compels
history to finally tell the truth about Wonder Woman — and compels
the rest of us to behold it.’
*Los Angeles Times*
‘'The secret identity and ironic origin of Wonder Woman, gleefully
revealed here, lie less in comic book fantasy than in the racy life
of her creator and the history of women’s liberation.’
*The Times*
‘Lepore, a Harvard historian, is the first scholar to have full
access to the Marston family papers and she mines these to
marvellous effect. She also situates Wonder Woman’s story in
multiple historical contexts, especially that of twentieth-century
women’s history. Wonder Woman, she finds, was the bridge between
the originary feminism of the 1900s and the modern women’s
movements beginning in the 1960s. Where others have seen only kinky
chains, she perceives direct connections to earlier feminist images
of fettered women overcoming social and political restraints … For
Lepore the real superhero, here, is that of her own field, History
… Lepore notes that “history raises questions about the nature of
truth”, and that the historian’s diligent sifting through evidence
is more effective in distinguishing fact from fiction than
Marston’s lie detector and Wonder Woman’s lasso … The Secret
History of Wonder Woman is an exemplary case by a model
practitioner.’
*Times Literary Supplement*
‘What Lepore seeks to do here is tell the story of women’s
experience in the 20th century through this pop-culture icon … A
cracking narrative.’
*Independent*
‘Lepore’s discipline is worthy of a first-class detective … [The
Secret History of Wonder Woman] convinces us that we should know
more about early feminists whose work Wonder Woman drew on and
carried forward … A key spotter of connections, Lepore retrieves a
remarkably recognizable feminist through-line, showing us 1920s
debates about work-life balance, for example, that sound like
something from The Atlantic in the past decade.’
*New York Review of Books*
‘Part detective fiction, part drama, part biography, but mostly an
utterly gripping read.’
*Times Higher Education Supplement*
‘Lepore’s voice is fresh, clear and often cheeky … This is a truly
gorgeous book — beautiful to have and to hold, with lovely little
black-and-white photos on most pages — as well as a sumptuous
colour cartoon section. It is brilliantly written and splendidly
researched.’
*Spectator*
‘The Marston family’s story is ripe for psychoanalysis. And so is
The Secret History, since it raises interesting questions about
what motivates writers to choose the subjects of their books.
Having devoted her last work to Jane Franklin Mecom, Benjamin
Franklin’s sister, Lepore clearly has a passion for intelligent,
opinionated women whose legacies have been overshadowed by the men
they love. In her own small way, she’s helping women get the
justice they deserve, not unlike her tiara’d counterpart … It has
nearly everything you might want in a page-turner: tales of
S&M, skeletons in the closet, a believe-it-or-not weirdness in
its biographical details, and something else that secretly powers
even the most “serious” feminist history – fun.’
*Entertainment Weekly*
‘Not just for serious comics historians, The Secret History Of
Wonder Woman is also a must-read for anyone interested in feminist
or utopian literature.’
*A.V. Club*
‘Deftly combines biography and cultural history to trace the
entwined stories of Marston, Wonder Woman, and 20th-century
feminism … Lepore – a professor of American history at Harvard, a
New Yorker writer, and the author of Book of Ages – is an endlessly
energetic and knowledgeable guide to the fascinating backstory of
Wonder Woman. She’s particularly skilful at showing the subtle
process by which personal details migrate from life into art.’
*Christian Science Monitor*
‘In the spirited, thoroughly reported The Secret History of Wonder
Woman, Jill Lepore recounts the fascinating details behind the
Amazonian princess' origin story.’
*Newsday*
‘A wonderfully entertaining study.’
*Simple Things*
‘Jill Lepore’s generously illustrated The Secret History of Wonder
Woman impressively links the iconic superhero’s 1941 creation by
William Moulton Marston (also the inventor of the lie detector)
both to the aims of mid-twentieth-century feminism and to the
influential Marston family’s deep domestic intrigues.’
*Elle*
‘A rigorous, unflinching, and long-overdue appraisal … [Lepore]
distils the figures she writes about into clean, simple, muscular
prose, making unequivocal assertions that carry a faint electric
charge.’
*Slate*
Kirkus 'Nonfiction Books of the Year 2014'
‘Few historians handle weirdness as deftly or thoughtfully as
Lepore … [Her] brilliance lies in knowing what to do with the
material she has. In her hands, the Wonder Woman story unpacks not
only a new cultural history of feminism, but a theory of history as
well.’
*New York Times Book Review*
‘The Secret History of Wonder Woman relates a tale so improbable,
so juicy, it’ll have you saying, “Merciful Minerva!” … An
astonishingly thorough investigation of the man behind the world’s
most popular female superhero.’
*NPR*
‘If it makes your head spin to imagine a skimpily clad pop culture
icon as (spoiler alert!) a close relation of feminist birth control
advocate Margaret Sanger, then prepare to be dazzled by the truths
revealed in historian Jill Lepore’s The Secret History of Wonder
Woman. The story behind Wonder Woman is sensational, spellbinding
and utterly improbable. Her origins lie in the feminism of the
early 1900s, and the intertwined dramas that surrounded her
creation are the stuff of pulp fiction and tabloid scandal … It
took a super-sleuth to uncover the mysteries of this intricate
history, hidden from view for more than half a century. With
acrobatic research prowess, muscular narrative chops and disarming
flashes of humor, Lepore rises to the challenge, bringing to light
previously unknown details and deliberately obfuscated
connections.’
*San Francisco Chronicle*
‘On the one hand, the story [The Secret History of Wonder Woman]
relates has more uplift than Wonder Woman’s invisible airplane or
her eagle-encrusted red bustier. It’s a yea-saying tale about how
this comic book character, created in 1941, remade American
feminism and had her roots in the ideas and activism of Margaret
Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. On the other hand, The
Secret History of Wonder Woman is fundamentally a biography of
Wonder Woman’s larger-than-life and vaguely creepy male creator,
William Moulton Marston … [Lepore] fully tells Marston’s history
for the first time, as well as the complete history of how so many
crisp feminist ideas made their way into Wonder Woman comics. It’s
complicated material that she capably explores.’
*New York Times*
‘An astonishing story told extremely well.’
*Daily Beast*
‘A fascinating and eclectic study ... Lepore has added to our
understanding of an iconic literary character ensconced deep within
the mythology of our modern society; but more importantly she has
used this character to shape a new understanding of that society's
own history ... Her research is surprising not only because it
reveals what we did not know about Wonder Woman, but because it
underscores what we did not know about our own history.’
*Pop Matters*
'This wham-bang-thank-you-superma'am book is thrilling, amazing,
unexpectedly weird and right-on righteous!'
*Saga Magazine*
NPR's Best Books of 2014
Entertainment Weekly Best Nonfiction Books of the Year
2014
Barnes and Noble's Top Books for the Holiday Season
Amazon's Best Books of the Month
'Lepore's study of Wonder Woman, feminism and the strange Marston
is riveting.'
*The Telegraph*
'A spectacularly detailed biography of both the comic book
superhero and her creator, psychologist and inventor of the lie
detector, William Moulton Marston ... Both have riveting stories
which Lepore tells with the same effusive energy and excitement of
the comic strip.'
*Daily Mail*
'A fascinating foray into American popular culture.'
*Mail on Sunday*
'Lepore meticulously unpicks Wonder Woman’s origins to reveal
there’s more to her backstory than an Amazonian creation myth ...
Underneath the intriguing social history, this is a story of human
flaws and foibles, with Wonder Woman standing as testament to the
pitfalls and pleasures of chasing a dream.'
*The Guardian*
‘[An] excellent, scholarly investigation into the strange, kinky,
uber-feminist origins of the iconic superhero.’
*The Scotsman*
‘A fascinating book.’
*Independent*
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