Kara Cooney has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 1 narrator, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 16 ratings. The most-rated is When Women Ruled the World.
When Women Ruled the World
Summary
This riveting narrative explores the lives of six remarkable female pharaohs, from Hatshepsut to Cleopatra - women who ruled with real power - and shines a piercing light on our own perceptions of women in power today. Female rulers are a rare phenomenon - but thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, women reigned supreme. Regularly, repeatedly, and with impunity, queens like Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra controlled the totalitarian state as power brokers and rulers. But throughout human history, women in positions of power were more often used as political pawns in a male-dominated society. What was so special about ancient Egypt that provided women this kind of access to the highest political office? What was it about these women that allowed them to transcend patriarchal obstacles? What did Egypt gain from its liberal reliance on female leadership, and could today's world learn from its example? Celebrated Egyptologist Kara Cooney delivers a fascinating tale of female power, exploring the reasons why it has seldom been allowed through the ages and why we should care.
©2018 Kara Cooney (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Woman Who Would Be King
Summary
An engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power. Hatshepsut - the daughter of a general who usurped Egypt's throne and a mother with ties to the previous dynasty - was born into a privileged position in the royal household, and she was expected to bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her failure to produce a male heir was ultimately the twist of fate that paved the way for her improbable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just over twenty, Hatshepsut ascended to the rank of pharaoh in an elaborate coronation ceremony that set the tone for her spectacular reign as co-regent with Thutmose III, the infant king whose mother Hatshepsut out-maneuvered for a seat on the throne. Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays in the veil of piety and sexual reinvention. Just as women today face obstacles from a society that equates authority with masculinity, Hatshepsut shrewdly operated the levers of power to emerge as Egypt's second female pharaoh. Hatshepsut successfully negotiated a path from the royal nursery to the very pinnacle of authority, and her reign saw one of Ancient Egypt's most prolific building periods. Scholars have long speculated as to why her monuments were destroyed within a few decades of her death, all but erasing evidence of her unprecedented rule. Constructing a rich narrative history using the artifacts that remain, noted Egyptologist Kara Cooney offers a remarkable interpretation of how Hatshepsut rapidly but methodically consolidated power - and why she fell from public favor just as quickly. The Woman Who Would Be King traces the unconventional life of an almost-forgotten pharaoh and explores our complicated reactions to women in power.
©2014 Kara Cooney (P)2014 Random House Audio
Powerful Women Who Ruled the Ancient World
Summary
What is power and who is allowed to wield it? Why is female power so rare and, often, so feared? What can the women who gained power in the ancient world teach us about the contemporary world and our modern ideas of gender, authority, and equality? Listeners will explore these and other questions as you travel back to the ancient world and uncover the stories of remarkable women who overcame a host of barriers to wield power in a male-dominated world. From Egypt and Mesopotamia to China and Rome, you will meet women who worked strategically to gain unprecedented influence and you will see how their stories echo through the centuries, offering surprising relevance to our understanding of gender and sexual dynamics today. In Powerful Women of the Ancient World, Professor Kara Cooney will share the stories of women who rose to power through ambition; intelligence; skill; and sheer determination. First, you will take a look at what power actually is - how it is defined, how different kinds of power operate, and why women and men are often viewed differently when power is involved. Then, meet the women of the ancient world who challenged the status quo by grasping for and holding authority. Some names listeners will likely already recognize through their “cautionary tales”, such as Cleopatra and Jezebel. Others, though less well-known, will show you the different ways it is possible to be powerful. You will meet rulers like Empress Lü of China and Hatshepsut of Egypt, rebel leaders such as Boudica of Britain, religious leaders like the Hebrew prophetess Deborah, and more. As listeners will learn, times may have changed since antiquity, but the past has a long reach - and in many ways, our cultural ideas about women and power are surprisingly slow to change.
©2020 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.
Ancient Female Rulers
Summary
One Day University presents a series of audio lectures recorded in real time from some of the top minds in the United States. Given by award-winning professors and experts in their field, these recorded lectures dive deep into the worlds of religion, government, literature, and social justice. Complex societies are inherently based on masculine dominance, forcing female rulers to resort to familiar methods to gain power. Some female rulers, like Cleopatra, used their sexuality to gain access to important men and bear them children. Many, like Sobeknefru, only ruled at the end of a dynasty, after the male line had run out, or, like Britain's Boudica, in the midst of civil war. Sometimes, a woman was the only effective leader left after drawn-out battles against imperial aggression. Some women, like Hatshepsut, gained their position as the regent and helper of a masculine king who was too young to rule. Almost no evidence of successful, long-term female leaders exists from the ancient world. Only the female king of Egypt, Hatshepsut, was able to take on formal power for any considerable length of time, and even she had to share power with a male ruler. Given this social reality, how then did Hatshepsut negotiate her leadership role? Why did she ascend the throne as a king? How are we to find this woman's power when it is cloaked by traditional patriarchal systems? This lecture will work through the ample evidence for Hatshepsut's reign in an attempt to find the woman behind the statues, monuments, stelae, and obelisks. This audio lecture includes a supplemental PDF. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Kara Cooney (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC