The Amazons

Product Description

The Amazons were fierce, hard-fighting, horse-riding female warriors. Equal to men in battle, legend has it they would cut off their breasts to improve their archery skills and routinely killed their boy children to purify their ranks. For centuries these powerful, sexually dominant barbarian women were believed to be the fantastical invention of Greek myth and storytelling. Until now. Drawing on decades of research and a series of recent archaeological discoveries, John Man travels to the grasslands of Central Asia, from the edge of the ancient Greek world to the borderlands of China, to discover the truth about the legendary women of the Eurasian steppes. In this deeply researched, sweeping historical epic, Man redefines our understanding of The Amazons and their culture and restores them to their rightful position as one of the most feared and revered armies the world has ever known.The Amazons were fierce, hard-fighting, horse-riding female warriors. Equal to men in battle, legend has it they would cut off their breasts to improve their archery skills and routinely killed their boy children to purify their ranks. For centuries these powerful, sexually dominant barbarian women were believed to be the fantastical invention of Greek myth and storytelling. Until now. Drawing on decades of research and a series of recent archaeological discoveries, John Man travels to the grasslands of Central Asia, from the edge of the ancient Greek world to the borderlands of China, to discover the truth about the legendary women of the Eurasian steppes. In this deeply researched, sweeping historical epic, Man redefines our understanding of The Amazons and their culture and restores them to their rightful position as one of the most feared and revered armies the world has ever known.
John Man is a historian with a special interest in Asia and the nature of leadership. His books, published in over twenty languages, include bestselling biographies of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan and Attila the Hun, as well as histories of the Great Wall of China and the Mongol Empire. He is fast becoming one of the world's most widely read historians.