The Secret History Of Wonder Woman

Within the origin of one of the world’s most iconic superheroes hides a fascinating family story—and a crucial history of feminism in the twentieth-century. “Everything you might want in a page-turner … skeletons in the closet, a believe-it-or-not weirdness in its biographical details, and something else that secretly powers even the most “serious” feminist history—fun.” —Entertainment Weekly The Secret History of Wonder Woman is a tour de force of intellectual and cultural history. Wonder Woman, Jill Lepore argues, is the missing link in the history of the struggle for women’s rights—a chain of events that begins with the women’s suffrage campaigns of the early 1900s and ends with the troubled place of feminism a century later. Lepore, a Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer, has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston. The Marston family story is a tale of drama, intrigue, and irony. In the 1920s, Marston and his wife brought into their home Olive Byrne, the niece of Margaret Sanger, one of the most influential feminists of the twentieth century. Even while celebrating conventional family life in a regular column that Marston and Byrne wrote for Family Circle, they themselves pursued lives of extraordinary nonconformity. Marston, internationally known as an expert on truth—he invented the lie detector test—lived a life of secrets, only to spill them on the pages of Wonder Woman. Includes a new afterword with fresh revelations based on never before seen letters and photographs from the Marston family’s papers, and 161 illustrations and 16 pages in full color.

“I’ve never seen more information about Wonder Woman than in Wonder Woman Unbound. Tim Hanley tells us everything we’ve never asked about Wonder Woman, . . . from her mythic Golden Age origins through her dismal Silver Age years as a lovesick romance comic character, and worse yet, when she lost her costume and powers in the late 1960s. Our favorite Amazon’s saga becomes upbeat again with the 1970s advent of Gloria Steinem and Ms. magazine, and Lynda Carter’s unforgettable portrayal of her on television. And it’s all told with a dollop of humor!” —Trina Robbins, author of Pretty in Ink With her golden lasso and her bullet-deflecting bracelets, Wonder Woman is a beloved icon of female strength in a world of male superheroes. But this close look at her history portrays a complicated heroine who is more than just a female Superman. Tim Hanley explores Wonder Woman’s lost history, delving into her comic book and its spin-offs as well as the motivations of her creators, to showcase the peculiar journey of a twentieth-century icon—from the 1940s, when her comics advocated female superiority but were also colored by bondage imagery and hidden lesbian leanings, to her resurgence as a feminist symbol in the 1970s and beyond. Tim Hanley is a comic book historian. His blog, Straitened Circumstances, discusses Wonder Woman and women in comics, and his column “Gendercrunching” runs monthly on Bleeding Cool. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Millennia ago, Queen Hera and the goddesses of the Olympian pantheon grew greatly dissatisfied with their male counterparts…and far from their sight, they put a plan into action. A new society was born, one never before seen on Earth, capable of wondrous and terrible things…but their existence could not stay secret for long. When a despairing woman named Hippolyta crossed the Amazons’ path, a series of events was set in motion that would lead to an outright war across heaven and Earth-and the creation of Earth’s greatest guardian! Legendary talents Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, and Nicola Scott unleash a critically lauded and Eisner Award-winning reading experience the likes of which you’ve never seen, with unbelievably sumptuous art and a story that will haunt you. Collects Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons #1-3.

Beautiful as Aphrodite, stronger than Hercules, wise as Athena—for more than 75 years, Wonder Woman has inspired and empowered generations of fans with her strength and guidance. This gorgeous collection of quotes from throughout Wonder Woman's iconic history in comics, film, and TV, fully illustrated by a wide range of classic and modern visuals, showcases her wisdom on fighting systems of evil, defying expectations in Man's World, standing up for peace and love, and embodying the true meaning of strength. The Wisdom of Wonder Woman is an uplifting and powerful book for wonder women everywhere.

William Marston was an unusual man—a psychologist, a soft-porn pulp novelist, more than a bit of a carny, and the (self-declared) inventor of the lie detector. He was also the creator of Wonder Woman, the comic that he used to express two of his greatest passions: feminism and women in bondage. Comics expert Noah Berlatsky takes us on a wild ride through the Wonder Woman comics of the 1940s, vividly illustrating how Marston’s many quirks and contradictions, along with the odd disproportionate composition created by illustrator Harry Peter, produced a comic that was radically ahead of its time in terms of its bold presentation of female power and sexuality. Himself a committed polyamorist, Marston created a universe that was friendly to queer sexualities and lifestyles, from kink to lesbianism to cross-dressing. Written with a deep affection for the fantastically pulpy elements of the early Wonder Womancomics, from invisible jets to giant multi-lunged space kangaroos, the book also reveals how the comic addressed serious, even taboo issues like rape and incest. Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics 1941-1948 reveals how illustrator and writer came together to create a unique, visionary work of art, filled with bizarre ambition, revolutionary fervor, and love, far different from the action hero symbol of the feminist movement many of us recall from television.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR NPR • Time Magazine • The Washington Post • Entertainment Weekly • The Boston Globe A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK From one of our most accomplished and widely admired historians—a revelatory portrait of Benjamin Franklin's youngest sister, Jane, whose obscurity and poverty were matched only by her brother’s fame and wealth but who, like him, was a passionate reader, a gifted writer, and an astonishingly shrewd political commentator. Making use of an astonishing cache of little-studied material, including documents, objects, and portraits only just discovered, Jill Lepore brings Jane Franklin to life in a way that illuminates not only this one extraordinary woman but an entire world.

Drawn from the story lines presented in recent motion pictures featuring Wonder Woman, presents background and details on Wonder Woman's birth place, her Amazon sisters, and her journey into the outside world.

Illustated guidbook featuring the stories of Superman and Wonder Woman, from their origins to their toughest conflicts, packaged with five inch tall vinyl figurines! Featuring classic tales, timelines, and iconic comic book covers, plus an account of their friendship, romance, and collaboration in the ongoing war against global super villains. The guide comes complete with two five inch 1:14 scale figurines of Superman and Wonder Woman, sculpted in an iconic pose. The figurines are made of vibrantly coloured vinyl and are produced in association with DC. In just over 75 years, Superman and Wonder Woman have risen to become two of the most recognizable faces in fantasy. He was rocketed to Earth from the dying world of Krypton and given superpowers by our yellow sun. She was gifted qualities by the Greek Gods, stronger than Hercules, wiser than Athena... Wonder Woman and Superman always seemed to have a special understanding. They are both, by far, the most physically powerful heroes on Earth. And they are both outsiders. This understanding has resulted in a close friendship between the two, and has sometimes evolved into something more. Celebrating not only the rich creative history of these two icons, but the work of the writers and artists that have breathed life into them, this guide features work from such immortal talents as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, John Byrne and Jim Lee.