'Poisoners', 'whores', 'witches' and 'murderers' - or so their enemies claimed. From Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, to the villainous Catherine de Medici and her flying squadron, to England's 'Gloriana' Elizabeth I, and the modern phenomenon of female prime ministers - Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Benazir Bhutto - Claudia Gold looks at three and a half thousand years of history to examine the lives of fifty of the world's most exceptional rulers - all of them women. Each biographical profile sets its subject clearly in the culture and context of its time, enabling the author not only to tell the stories of these 50 astonishing women, but also to provide a fascinating and informative alternative social history.