We're overturning stereotypes on the Books podcast this week, with strong women from 19th-century China and 1950s Britain.
Jung Chang tells us how she became intrigued by the gap between the despotic reputation of Empress Dowager Cixi and the reforming reality. A woman who began as a grade-three imperial concubine in 1852 and wound up controlling the Manchu empire for almost 40 years certainly possessed a ruthless streak, Chang admits, but a ruler who founded a navy, built a railway and abolished foot binding was no simple reactionary.
Rachel Cooke has been rewriting history a little closer to home with her study of pioneering female professionals. She joins us in the studio to explain how she wanted to inspire women in the 21st century with the courage and resolve of working women in the 1950s. Her portraits of women who forged careers in film, journalism, the law and beyond show how they overcame obstacles with a mixture of pragmatism, stoicism and the ability to make the most of the opportunities that came their way.
Reading list
The Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang (Jonathan Cape)
Her Brilliant Career by Rachel Cooke (Virago)
