This is an extremely readable academic history of stuntwomen - not a subject I've ever spent a lot of time thinking about, but I came cross the book and thought why not, and I'm glad I took the chance. I know little more about the history of film than I do stuntwomen, so it was fascinating to discover that stuntwomen have been doing their thing for close to a century now, and that there was actually significant opportunity for them to do so in the early days of film... opportunities that tapered sharply off in the thirties or so, when studio inclinations to hire men in wigs to do the dangerous work made life a lot harder for their female counterparts.

That difficulty was compounded, over decades, by labour organisations that prioritised stuntmen, an abundance of sexual harassment, and the added difficulty of performing stunts while wearing very little, which meant that the safety padding so available to their male counterparts was frequently denied them. The slow development of industry standards, often spearheaded by a small group of women who risked (and often received) blacklisting for their efforts, is immensely frustrating to read, and no doubt would have been worse to experience. The sheer joy that these women experience in their chosen profession, however, radiates through the pages... even if I cannot possibly sympathise with the horrifying desire to throw oneself from a building onto a pile of cardboard boxes. Rather them than me on that one.

It's very well-written. I'm glad I read it.