Great Dames

'Great Dames is a great read about little-known 20th-century Canadian women. It's a collection of 15 biographies written by women with various academic backgrounds, often in history or English. They seek not only to "capture the greatness of ordinary women's lives," but to challenge the traditional model of biography... Reading Great Dames has put me in touch with many layers of Canadian society that I never knew existed, and it does this by revealing fascinating segments of women's lives in dazzling detail.' -- Gretch Wilson The New Brunswick Reader 'The book's attempt to be inclusive is as admirable as its determination to subvert the patriarchal model of biography; that is, biography as a heroic story of (usually male) accomplishment. Great Dames aims for something more subtle and potentially satisfying: to tell the whole life.' -- Susan Riley The Ottawa Citizen 'By now women's life-writing - biography and memoir - is emerging, and at the same time the academy is questioning traditional ideas about biography, in particular the pretence that there is one objective truth in telling a life... The timing lends an electric buzz to Great Dames. Not only are women's lives - from criminals to doctors - being recovered but they're also being told in a kaleidoscope of styles. This book's fascinating even when it doesn't work.' -- Ted Mumford Now Magazine 'Its intent is to subvert the traditional notion of biography ... by exploring the lives of women ... to illuminate particular places and times, as well as the relationship between biographer and subject. There's a bit of navel-gazing here, but the overall result is fascinating.' The Globe and Mail 'And what subjects! After decades of research, through memoirs published and unpublished the distaff side of our story is beginning to emerge. Whether native or immigrant, roughing it in the bush or keeping house in town, pervious generations of women were human beings, not selfless saints who knew their place. Readers will be very grateful to writers such as Helen Buss, Sally Cole, Marlene Epp, Beverly Rasporich, and Patricia Smart for introducing a great bunch of dames.' -- Martha Harron Quill and Quire 'A unique and interesting collection of life stories which succeed in meeting the editors' wishes for the book.' -- Stephanie Boutillier The Sherbrooke Record