Woman, Captain, Rebel

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19th_century_setting
A01=Margaret Willson
Author_Margaret Willson
biography
Category=DNB
Category=DNBH
Category=JNB
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
equality
fishing captain
gender roles
historical
iceland
maritime history
nonfiction
sea captain
society
women biographies
women in history
women's rights

Product details

  • ISBN 9781728240053
  • Weight: 431g
  • Dimensions: 139 x 209mm
  • Publication Date: 28 Feb 2023
  • Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
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A daring and magnificent historical narrative nonfiction account of Iceland's most famous female sea captain who constantly fought for women's rights and equality-and who also solved one of the country's most notorious robberies.

Every day was a fight for survival, equality, and justice for Iceland's most renowned female fishing captain of the 19th century.

History would have us believe the sea has always been a male realm, the idea of female captains almost unthinkable. But there is one exception, so notable she defies any expectation.

This is her remarkable story.

Captain Thurídur, born in Iceland in 1777, lived a life that was both controversial and unconventional. Her first time fishing, on the open unprotected rowboats of her time, was at age 11. Soon after, she audaciously began wearing trousers. She later became an acclaimed fishing captain brilliant at weather-reading and seacraft and consistently brought in the largest catches. In the Arctic seas where drownings occurred with terrifying regularity, she never lost a single crewmember. Renowned for her acute powers of observation, she also solved a notorious crime. In this extremely unequal society, she used the courts to fight for justice for the abused, and in her sixties, embarked on perilous journeys over trackless mountains.

Weaving together fastidious research and captivating prose, Margaret Willson reveals Captain Thurídur's fascinating story, her extraordinary courage, intelligence, and personal integrity.

Through adventure, oppression, joy, betrayal, and grief, Captain Thurídur speaks a universal voice. Here is a woman so ahead of her times she remains modern and inspirational today. Her story can now finally be told.

MARGARET WILLSON is a writer and cultural anthropologist. She has traveled extensively, working, doing research, or ethnographic film in Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland...and a number of other places. She currently lives in Seattle with her partner and their cat Mister.

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