Laws of the Bandit Queens: Words to Live by from 35 of Today's Most Revolutionary Women,   ISBN:9780609808078

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This book was a gift from a friend who I truly admire and it is one of the most meaningful gifts I have ever recieved. Law of the Bandit Queens is one of those rare creations that not only was able to inspire me to try harder to acheive my goals, it also made me very proud to be a woman. It is a wonderful gift for all the women who have ever inspired you in your life. The book includes women from many walks of life. Ali Smith has chosen an incredible mix of women who each have something very different, yet equally as important to teach us all.

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This book is an amazing piece of work, both artistically and in the strength of its message(s). Some girls grow up knowing exactly what the want out of life and then there are other girls who are "domestically" challenged, feeling very lost at sea. They spend half their lives trying figure out "where" and "when" they will fit in; never realizing that it may never happen, but that there is nothing wrong with that either.Through these compelling photos and insightful statements from the strong women in this book, Ali Smith gets to the heart of that matter. She does an amazing job of addressing the percentage of women feeling alone and depressed in their artistic and unconventional quests - whatever they might be, and whatever form they might take on.

At a time I needed it most, this book was and continues to be, a beacon in the very cookie cutter world around me. I have been crying out for such a book my whole adult female life it seems, and now it is finally here! There are women in here from all "categories" of life. I think every person who purchases this book; while reading it and taking in the colorful and exquisitely designed pages Ali presents to us; one can definitely start feeling a lot better inside about themselves, who they are, where they have been and about the course they choose to chart in these interesting times (not to mention the extraordinary journeys of the women in this book.) I cannot wait for Ali Smith's next book creation! Until then, "Laws of the Bandit Queens" is my constant companion!

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This is one of the most expressive collections of photos I've ever enjoyed! Ali Smith seems to really be able to communicate the intentions of these women through her images. I think she may be one of the most undernoticed photographers in New York City at the moment. You can really sink your teeth into the colors and textures of her work...Bravo!

Customer Rating: 

Don't get me wrong - the women featured in this book are all awesome, and the photos of them are great, but the I-centric approach Ali Smith chose when interviewing each woman was a huge turn-off. These women are all more than capable of speaking for themselves, so why couldn't Smith have stepped aside and let them do just that? For a book claiming to contain "words to live by" from the women portrayed in it, there were disappointingly few direct quotes from said women, and annoyingly much space alloted to Smith's opinions and impressions - what she thought about the women, what meeting them was like for her, how she first heard of them, and so on and so forth. (I understand from the book description that Smith wanted to create something "intensely personal", but surely intensely personal does not have to be synonymous with heroically self-obsessed?) For an interesting contrast, I recommend the book 'Picture the Girl: Young Women Speak Their Minds', by photojournalist Audrey Shehyn, who does an excellent job of portraying 35 young women WITHOUT stealing their spotlight. I bought Smith's book partly because I thought it would be interesting to learn more about Janeane Garofalo, who is one of my favorite actors and something of a role model to me, but I learned nothing about her I didn't already know, because, as it turned out, most of the text accompanying the photos of Garofalo was in fact about Smith.

Customer Rating: 

I am sitting at a coffee shop and had to reluctantly tear myself away from Ali Smith"s LAws of BAndit Queens. At first I just opened the book and looked at the pictures. I felt a strange sense of reverence in front of the array of fiercely modern and independent women portrayed there. The pictures caught them in action .The photographs seemed to have captured the essence of each and every women . Nothing glamorous there. Just incredibly truthful. All the women seemed colorful to me, caught mid -sentence. Arrested between a defiant laugh and a provocative gesture. Some of them exuded a sense of radiant peace. Confidence. Clearly Ali Smith has no interest whatsoever in making her photography anything but honest. She captures a moment and that's that.
It's not a platform to stardom or celebrity. Just her take in color on what makes a great woman worth looking at.
Yet the photography is incredibly beautiful, something you might almost forget when looking at the book. Because the laws of the bandit queens will make you first and foremost think. About them. About yourself. About what it means to be a woman. Ali is so self effacing in her commentary that you might even forget she took the pictures and interviewd each woman. A nonobstrusive witness, Ali is noneteless the eye behind the lense, and the intelligent artist who is merely offering her unique take on the modern woman. By authoring the book, she too joins the legacy of all the bandit queens. And mostly establishes herself as a great woman photographer.