Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Here is the internal dialog I had going at one point while reading this book. Me: "So the inventor of Wonder Woman was a psychology PhD who also invented the first lie detector." Also me: "Neat." Me: "Get this, he was also a pretty hardcore first-wave feminist and based a lot of Wonder Woman's stories and characteristics on Margaret Sanger, the birth-control pioneer." Also me: "That's pretty cool." Me: "He also lived with three women, had children with two of them, and balanced this unusual lifestyle fairly gracefully in way that his wife, Halloway, could fulfill her ambition to maintain a full-time job, while his mistress, Olive Bynre, could do what she wanted and raise the kids, while the third woman, Hurston, could come and go as she pleased. I should mention that Byrne wore thick silver bracelets, while Hurston and he were really into bondage." Also me: "That's pretty crazy, I mean especially for the early twentieth century..." Me: "You're still not getting it: kick-ass first-wave feminist sensibilities, thick silver bracelets, bondage, and making people tell the truth." Also me: "Oh God, that's Wonder Woman's whole gig, truth-telling lasso and all. Wow." So if after that little exchange you find yourself intrigued instead of bored, check this book out. It really is more of a biography of William Moulton Marston (WW's creator) than of the character, but it really is pretty interesting and naturally puts Wonder Woman's development into a more complete context. And the detailed research that went into digging this story out of DECADES of deliberate obfuscation is simply amazing. The author, Jill Lepore, deserves a round of applause for finding this amazing story and bringing it to the public in such an engaging way. This book integrates the history of feminism, comic books, psychology, social shifts in both sexuality and gender, and in the process gives us a nuanced look at some truly interesting people. Martson was a competent but spotlight-loving academic who couldn't resist sabotaging his own successes (in that way he is similar to his predecessor, The wizard from Vienna: Franz Anton Mesmer). Halloway, the wife and rock of the relationship(s) who wanted to give life her best as a working woman but still be able to raise a family. Byrne, the (seduced) graduate student who worked on much of WMM's projects anonymously and raised the Marston family to compensate for her own lonely childhood. And there are many others. Suffice to say - this is an engaging read for anyone interested in the history of feminism, comics, and (naturally) Wonder Woman herself.