It's always good to read about Joan of Arc who remains one of the most famous women to ever live. The Virgin Mary will always be the most famous but Joan the Maid of Orleans was a myth while she lived. This book sadly portrays her as a series of accidents which people mistook for military valor against the English. This book makes her a feminist in the modern sense and one of the first transvestites who, in the mode of modern critical theory, subverted the church's own self understanding as well as the whole feudal patriarchal system. The book is not edifying nor spiritual. If you want that, you should read Joan of Arc by Hilaire Belloc which is beautiful and accurate. Gordon's book is well written and I am always glad to be in possession of good reading for a book's full length but Gordon's argument is that Joan was a fraud but a lucky fraud in that no one could prove her right or wrong.

Not a definitive work on the “Maid of Orleans”, nor was it meant to be, Penguin Lives’ “Joan of Arc” by Mary Gordon does a superb job of deconstructing much of the intentional and unintentional iconography involved in studying Joan and her lasting effects on France and its providence. Ms. Gordon portrays her as a simple “cowgirl” but one who intrinsically understood the power of images and their uses, so much so that she was able to play the part of “chef de guerre” at a time when women, especially girls, played no such role. However, what intrigued me the most in this mini-bio was Ms. Gordon’s rendering of Joan as a quixotic figure well over a century before Cervantes’ character. Unfortunately, Ms. Gordon ends her excellent treatise with a fair share of feminist vitriol, which I found unneeded and unnecessary. ( )

The great novelist, Mary Gordon, has a go at non-fiction in this short (179 p.) but beautifully written account of the myths and realities in the life of the "Maid of Orleans." Gordon believes our understanding of Joan "must always be enclosed in the envelope of her age and gender." Joan of Arc was executed for heresy at the age of 19 after having led French soldiers in battle during the Hundred Years War against England. ( )

I would have given the book a higher rating if it hadn't been for the last chapter. I had no desire to read about all the things ever created using Joan of Arc as the protagonist. Boring. Gordon went a long way in establishing the context surrounding Joan. How Joan fit into society and how that society was created the myth, legend and icon that is Joan of Arc. It very intriguing how an uneducated, religious peasant girl is able to lead the army of France into battle to allow the dauphin Charles to be crowned King. Establishing her place in the larger theatre that was 16th century French politics, religion and royalty is fascinating. Nowhere else could it have happened and had Joan not perished the way she did, she would not be the legend and icon she is. The books is not long, and it can be choppy in places, but it is a different kind of biography. Not one of names, dates and places but of the context and historical significance of an individual. ( )