Boston Athenæum

April 30, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum. In this book talk, Kirstin Downey, author of Isabella: The Warrior Queen, will speak about Isabella of Castile, the Queen of Spain who became one of the most influential female rulers in history. Just as Isabella was a queen in a world of kings, female members of the Athenæum have navigated what librarian Charles Knowles in the Athenæum Centenary called “a man’s institution” for the majority of its history. (Barbara Adams Hebard tackles this topic in her essay, "The Role of Women at the Boston Athenæum" in The Boston Athenæum Bicentennial Essays, which illuminates the hidden history of female contributions to the Athenæum since its inception.) Isabella’s life is not so hidden, sponsoring major historical events such as Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World and the Spanish Inquisition. Whether saintly or satanic, no female leader has done more to shape our modern world, in which millions of people in two hemispheres speak Spanish and practice Catholicism. Usin