Astounding adventures, reckless courage, and fierce independence are hardly the exclusive preserve of men, as this intriguing and surprising collection shows: courtesans from Nell Gwynne to Madame de Pompadour; femme fatales such as the pistol-packing concubine Lola Montez and Clara Bow, the It girl who turned Hollywood into her own party; the outlaws Phoolan "the Bandit Queen" Devi and seafaring, ship-raiding Anne Bonney; and heroines from the ancient British Queen Boadicea to Nancy Wake, who, dressed as a man, led a bazooka-assault against a Nazi redoubt in World War II.