For centuries, womenâs voices were silenced, their contributions erased, their histories forgotten. But silence is never absoluteâhistory waits for us to listen.
History Waits to Be Heard is not just a retelling of lost stories; itâs a bold exploration of how gender, power, and societal structures have shaped our world. From ancient civilizations to modern movements, from invisible labour to the fight for recognition, this book challenges the narratives we take for granted and asks: What happens when we acknowledge the voices history tried to erase?
Bridging past and present, it introduces forgotten figures, critiques the systems that sidelined them, and asks how we can build a more inclusive future. These storiesâof rebels, poets, leaders, and healersâreveal a deeper truth: that history isnât missing women. Itâs waiting for us to hear them.
Through the lens of Equality Without Distinction, this book urges readers to move beyond inherited categoriesâto see people not by gender or class, but by their choices, actions, and impact.
Accessible, thought-provoking, and deeply relevant, this is a history book for those ready to challenge the past and shape what comes next.
For centuries, womenâs voices were silenced, their contributions erased, their histories forgotten. But silence is never absoluteâhistory waits for us to listen.
History Waits to Be Heard is not just a retelling of lost stories; itâs a bold exploration of how gender, power, and societal structures have shaped our world. From ancient civilizations to modern movements, from invisible labour to the fight for recognition, this book challenges the narratives we take for granted and asks: What happens when we acknowledge the voices history tried to erase?
Bridging past and present, it introduces forgotten figures, critiques the systems that sidelined them, and asks how we can build a more inclusive future. These storiesâof rebels, poets, leaders, and healersâreveal a deeper truth: that history isnât missing women. Itâs waiting for us to hear them.
Through the lens of Equality Without Distinction, this book urges readers to move beyond inherited categoriesâto see people not by gender or class, but by their choices, actions, and impact.
Accessible, thought-provoking, and deeply relevant, this is a history book for those ready to challenge the past and shape what comes next.
HISTORY WAITS TO BE HEARD
Listening to the Voices of Forgotten Women
By Darren Palmer
---
Chapter 1: Biases in History: Who Controls the Narrative?
History is often said to be written by the victors, but more accurately, it is shaped by those with the power to control the narrative. Governments, academics, institutions, and increasingly the media determine which voices are amplified and which are ignored, whose contributions are celebrated and whose are dismissed as trivial. These choices are not always acts of malice; more often, they reflect the prevailing values, blind spots, and prejudices of the time.
Archaeology offers a telling example. For much of its history, the field was dominated by colonial powers eager to justify their empires by glorifying ancient civilizations that reflected their own idealsâempires built on hierarchy, conquest, and patriarchal order. These societies were deemed worthy of study because they affirmed, rather than challenged, the worldview of those in power.
This âconvenienceâ was not incidental. Colonial expeditions often looted artifacts, exhumed sacred objects, and exported cultural treasures from colonized regions to fill museums back home. These acts were framed as acts of preservation or discovery, but they served to reinforce the idea that Western powers were the rightful inheritors and interpreters of global civilization.
Civilizations like Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Rome were celebrated for their monuments, emperors, and armies, while Indigenous or more communal societies were dismissed as irrelevant, unstructured, or inferior.
Archaeologists, whether aligned directly with imperial authorities or influenced by their cultural frameworks, were often complicit in this narrative construction. Their interpretations were shaped not only by the evidence they uncovered, but by the political agendas, funding sources, and dominant ideologies of their time. Sites associated with womenâs contributions or more egalitarian models of society were frequently overlooked, misinterpreted, or deemed unworthy of serious study.
Traditional interpretations of history often impose modern biases onto the past, assuming rigid gender roles where none may have existed. When archaeologists uncover a burial filled with weapons and riches, they do not ask, âHow did this person contribute to their society?â but instead, âWas this a man or a woman?â as if that distinction defines their importance. But what if the true question is not about gender at all?
Under the philosophy of Equality Without Distinction, the focus is not on whether a warrior was male or female, but on what their burial tells us about their role in society. Were they honoured for their leadership? Their strategic mind? Their courage? Their contributions to their people? The obsession with categorizationâplacing individuals into rigid boxesâlimits our understanding of history. By shifting our perspective, we can move beyond outdated assumptions and recognize the true weight of a personâs influence, regardless of the labels imposed upon them by later generations.
One such example is the story of Gudit, a 10th century queen whose legacy remains deeply contested.
Gudit: A Contested Legacy
Depending on the source, Gudit is either a liberator who overthrew a corrupt dynasty or a destructive force who burned churches and destabilized Ethiopia. The truth likely lies somewhere in between, but her story demonstrates how women in positions of power are often depicted as either villains or exceptions rather than legitimate rulers.
Guditâs reign is believed to have brought an end to the Aksumite Empire, one of Africaâs great early civilizations. The Aksumite Empire (circa 100â940 CE) was a powerful kingdom that thrived through trade, controlling key routes between the Red Sea, Arabia, and the interior of Africa. It had strong connections with the Roman and Byzantine worlds and was among the first African kingdoms to officially adopt Christianity. By the time of Guditâs rise, however, Aksum was in decline, its economic and political influence weakened due to shifting trade routes, climate changes, and internal instability.
Some Ethiopian traditions portray Gudit as a ruthless destroyer who set fire to churches and monasteries, erasing centuries of religious heritage. These accounts, however, were largely written by Christian chroniclers, who may have framed her as an enemy of the faith rather than recognizing her as a ruler who capitalized on a moment of political vulnerability. Other sources suggest that she was not merely a military leader but a claimant to power, possibly of Agaw origin, an ethnic group distinct from the ruling Aksumite elite.
If true, this would position her as a leader representing a broader societal shift, where marginalized groups took advantage of the empireâs decline to assert their own rule.
Unlike many kings whose military campaigns were celebrated, Guditâs conquests were framed as destruction rather than statecraft. This reflects a broader pattern in historical narratives, where women who seize power, especially through military means, are depicted as aberrations rather than rulers with strategic ambitions. The fact that she reportedly ruled for 40 years suggests a period of stability under her leadership, yet this aspect of her reign is rarely emphasized.
Despite the polarized accounts, what remains clear is that Gudit was a powerful and influential figure, one who reshaped Ethiopian history. The contradictions in her legacy highlight the importance of questioning who writes history and whose perspective is being told. How different might our understanding of powerful women be if their stories were written without the lens of religious or political bias? While the details of Guditâs rule remain debated, what is clear is that she left a lasting impact on Ethiopiaâs history. The Aksumite Empire never fully recovered from her conquest, and in the centuries that followed, new dynasties emerged that shifted Ethiopiaâs political and religious landscape. Whether seen as a ruler of destruction or a leader who capitalized on a moment of change, Guditâs legacy challenges us to rethink how we view powerful women in history.
Her story serves as a reminder that history is not static, it is an ongoing conversation, shaped by those who choose which narratives to preserve and which to erase.
Listening as a Method of Rediscovery
The act of listening to history requires more than curiosity; it demands humility and a willingness to challenge accepted narratives. Across cultures and time, wisdom often comes not from those who dominate or act with haste, but from those who observe, reflect, and listen. Too often, those who challenged the norms of their time, especially women found their voices dismissed or their contributions deliberately obscured by prevailing biases.
But history does not always disappear; sometimes, it waits to be recovered. In many cases, the challenge is not just uncovering overlooked figures but re-examining those who were known yet misunderstood. Many women who defied traditional roles by engaging in intellectual pursuits found their achievements buried beneath dominant narratives, their influence unrecognized until much later.
Recovering the past is not simply about finding lost records, it is about challenging how history itself has been framed. Who is given credit for shaping society, and who is left out? Even when historical figures were documented, their legacies were often rewritten to fit dominant narratives, reducing their influence or shifting recognition to more "acceptable" figures.
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim: The Forgotten Playwright
One example of a voice nearly lost to history is Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (HROTSâveetâah), a 10th century German secular canoness, playwright, and poet. She is credited as the first known female dramatist in Western history, yet for centuries, her contributions were ignored in favour of male playwrights.
Hrotsvitha lived in the Abbey of Gandersheim, a wealthy and politically influential convent in Saxony where noblewomen were educated in literature, philosophy, and theology. Unlike traditional nuns, Hrotsvitha was a canoness, a woman who took religious vows but was not fully cloistered. This meant that while she lived at the abbey, she retained some degree of autonomy, was allowed to own property, and could engage in intellectual pursuits. The abbey itself functioned as both a convent and a centre of learning, attracting women from noble families who sought education and influence without the restrictions of monastic life.
Her works, written in Latin, drew inspiration from the Roman playwright Terence, whose comedies were widely studied during the medieval period. However, she sought to counterbalance his depictions of women which often portrayed them as objects of desire or deceit with her own moral and virtuous female characters. This made her writings unique for her time, as they presented women not as passive figures, but as individuals with agency, intellect, and moral strength.
Despite her innovative approach, Hrotsvithaâs works were largely forgotten for centuries. Her manuscripts survived only in a single 10th century copy, and it was not until the 16th century that scholars re-examined her writings. Even then, her contributions were often downplayed. Male historians struggled to reconcile her literary talent with their assumptions about medieval women, leading to her dismissal as an anomaly rather than an integral part of literary history.
Beyond drama, Hrotsvitha also wrote historical and religious texts, further proving that medieval women were active contributors to intellectual life. Yet, her name remains obscure compared to her male counterparts, illustrating how womenâs achievements in literature have been consistently neglected or diminished.
The rediscovery of Hrotsvitha's works challenges the assumption that medieval Europe was entirely devoid of female literary voices. It also demonstrates how bias in historical preservation affects our understanding of intellectual traditions. Had her works been widely circulated earlier, they might have reshaped the course of European literature. Hrotsvithaâs story serves as a powerful reminder that voices can be lost not through deliberate suppression, but through neglect and a refusal to acknowledge their importance.
Not all histories rely on the written word to survive. Many societies have preserved their past through oral traditions, where knowledge is passed down from generation to generation, often preserving truths that written records overlook or erase. These traditions often filled the gaps left by written records, sometimes contradicting the official versions of history, revealing deeper truths, or providing alternative perspectives on well-known events.
Yet, because these stories did not fit the dominant historical record, they too were dismissed.
Reclaiming history requires not just finding lost records but rethinking the way we listen to the past. The dominant voices of history have dictated what is considered truth, often to the exclusion of perspectives that did not serve their interests. But history is not a single storyâit is a collection of experiences, interpretations, and lessons waiting to be heard. By learning to listen to question, to seek out missing perspectives, and to challenge assumptions we can uncover histories that were never truly lost, only waiting for those willing to hear them.
Among these societies are the Lakota Nation, one of the many Indigenous nations of North America, whose history, traditions, and philosophies have long been passed down through oral storytelling. The Lakota, who are part of the Oceti Sakowin (the Seven Council Fires), have long valued patience, respect for knowledge, and deep observation of the natural world. One of their traditional teachings highlights this principle through a powerful lesson in wisdom and humility.
The Lakota Teaching of the Hunterâs Wisdom
In a time before settlers arrived on their lands, an old Lakota hunter watched as the young men of the tribe boasted about their skills. Confident in their strength, they set out to hunt, eager to prove themselves. But despite their efforts, they returned empty handed the animals had evaded them with ease.
Seeing their frustration, the old hunter called them to sit by the fire and spoke:
âThe hunt is not about chasing; it is about listening. The wind carries their scent, the earth whispers their tracks, and the silence of the forest reveals their presence. To hunt is not to take, but to understand.â
The next day, he took the young hunters with him, guiding them into the forest. He taught them to move silently, to read the signs of the land, to feel the shift in the air that signalled an animal nearby. This time, they returned with enough food to feed the village. Through patience and humility, they had learned that true success does not come from force, but from understanding and respect for the world around them.
This Lakota teaching is more than a lesson about huntingâit is about listening, about seeking knowledge beyond what is immediately visible, and about respecting wisdom that exists beyond oneâs own experience. Just as the young hunters learned to see what they had once overlooked, we too must learn to recognize the voices that history has ignored or removed. By listening, we illuminate the gaps in our understanding of the past, bringing forgotten histories back into the light.
Yet listening is only one way to rediscover the past. Beyond oral traditions and re-examined records, modern advances in archaeology, historical research, and technology allow us to uncover new evidence challenging old assumptions and reshaping our understanding of history. These methods, much like listening, require us to challenge assumptions and engage with the past in ways that push beyond the limitations of traditional narratives.
His role reminds us that success comes not from dominance but from cooperation and respect for experience. Just as the young hunters relied on the elderâs wisdom to see what they had missed, we must rely on the wisdom of forgotten voices to illuminate the gaps in our understanding of the past.
Tools of Rediscovery
History is not static; it is a living, evolving record shaped by new discoveries, shifting perspectives, and critical analysis. What we know about the past is only as reliable as the tools we use to interpret it. Some of these tools are physicalâarchaeology, forensic science, and digital reconstruction. Others are intellectualâcontextual analysis, comparative history, and the willingness to challenge assumptions. Together, they allow us to piece together a fuller and more accurate picture of human history.
Archaeology, history, and technology are constantly evolving, shaping how we uncover and reinterpret the past. Once dominated by treasure hunters and colonial adventurers, archaeology has transformed into a rigorous discipline grounded in evidence and collaboration. Similarly, history has shifted its focus from kings and conquests to include the lives of ordinary people, cultural dynamics, and marginalized voices. But technological advancements are only one part of the process. Without a critical approach to what we have been taught, even the most advanced tools cannot break the cycle of historical bias.
Beyond archaeology, the work of recovery also happens through contextual analysis examining historical records in relation to social, political, and economic conditions to uncover hidden biases. Many figures who shaped history were dismissed simply because the people recording their stories held patriarchal or colonial perspectives. Cross-cultural comparisons serve as another powerful lens revealing patterns in different societies that contradict dominant narratives. If multiple cultures had female warriors, why did some historians insist this was an anomaly? Likewise, re-examining written records in new contexts exposes deliberate distortions or omissions, such as reclaiming the work of women philosophers in Ancient Greece who were once dismissed as footnotes. Technology has further revolutionized these fields, allowing us to rewrite narratives once thought complete. For example, in 2017, DNA analysis of the Birka warrior burial in Sweden overturned centuries of assumption by confirming that the grave, long thought to belong to a male Viking warrior, was in fact that of a woman. This discovery challenged entrenched gender assumptions in archaeology and forced scholars to re-evaluate how often bias shaped interpretation.
Margery Kempe: The Rediscovered Voice of Medieval Women
Margery Kempe (c. 1373â1438) was an English mystic, traveller, and author of what is considered the first known autobiography in English, The Book of Margery Kempe. Her story is one of fortitude, defiance, and rediscovery, her words nearly lost to time, only to be recovered centuries later, offering a rare glimpse into the life and mind of a medieval woman.
Kempe was born into a well-connected merchant family in Bishopâs Lynn (now Kingâs Lynn), England, and lived during a time when womenâs voices were rarely recorded outside of religious texts or noble chronicles. Unlike Hrotsvitha, who wrote within the educated walls of a convent, Margery was a laywoman, married, the mother of 14 children, and deeply rooted in the secular world. However, following a period of illness and visions of Christ, she devoted her life to a spiritual journey that defied societal norms.
She travelled extensively on pilgrimages, visiting Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela, and Germany, claiming direct conversations with God along the way. Her public displays of weeping, ecstatic religious, and outspoken nature drew criticism and even accusations of heresy. She was often put on trial for her unconventional behaviour, yet she remained unwavering in her beliefs.
What makes Margery Kempeâs story even more extraordinary is that her autobiography, arguably the first of its kind in English literature was almost lost to history. For centuries, her book survived only in fragmented references, dismissed as an eccentric tale rather than a historical record.
It was not until 1934 that a complete manuscript of The Book of Margery Kempe was rediscovered in a private library, allowing scholars to finally engage with her story in full.
Her writings are not only significant for their autobiographical detail but for their insight into the lives of medieval women, religious practices, and the challenges faced by those who refused to conform. Margeryâs voice stands as a reminder that history is shaped not only by the powerful but also by those who dared to document their own lives in defiance of silence.
The scientific tools we now wieldâground penetrating radar, carbon dating, and digital modellingâhave revealed astonishing insights that were once buried, both literally and figuratively. Archaeological discoveries continue to challenge assumptions about the past, revealing overlooked roles in society. One such discoveryâhow physical evidence reshaped our understanding of leadership in Viking societyâwill be explored in more detail in Chapter 8, where the story of the Birka Warrior challenges long held assumptions about gender and power. Such discoveries challenge the entrenched assumptions about gender roles in the past, reminding us that history is never staticâ it shifts as we uncover the truths it once buried.
Yet, for all the progress these tools have brought, they are only part of the story. The most important tools for recovering history might not be scientific instruments but the ones we carry with us every day: our eyes, our ears, and our curiosity. These tools urge us to look beyond what we have been taught, to see what has been overlooked, and to listen to what has been left unsaid.
If we listen carefully, perhaps we can hear the whispers in the darkâfragments of forgotten voices and bring them into the light.
History is not just written in books or etched into stone; much of it lives in the stories passed down through generations, spoken aloud and preserved by memory. Oral traditions have long been the lifeblood of human history, particularly in communities where the written word was inaccessible or devalued.
While rediscovered texts like Margery Kempeâs offer a written window into the past, many cultures have preserved history in a different way, through oral traditions passed from generation to generation. Oral traditions, maintained by the griots of West Africaâpoet-historians and guardians of memoryâ, the elders of the First Nations, and the storytellers of Polynesia, ensure that knowledge is passed down even when dominant narratives seek to erase it.
This book invites readers to embrace this method of rediscovery. By listening to the wisdom of early societies, by seeking out the stories that have been excluded, and by challenging the biases that have shaped historical narratives, we can begin to construct a fuller, richer picture of the past. The Lakota story reminds us that history is not about chasing after a singular truthâit is about observing, listening, and learning from the voices that have been waiting to be heard. But as we listen, we must also askâwho decided which voices should be silenced in the first place? And what does their erasure reveal about the forces that shaped the world we live in today?
History Waits to Be Heard: Forgotten Women, Changing Times, and the Evolution of Society
By: Darren Palmer
Publisher: Darren Palmer
Release Date: June 7, 2025
Length: 377 pages
Star Rating: âââ
What Did I Just Walk Into?
This book is like being handed a history textbook and told, âHey, remember how 90% of this was written by men about other men? Yeah, letâs fix that.â History Waits to Be Heard is a mic drop aimed squarely at the dusty, dude-heavy narratives weâve all been spoon-fed since grade school. Darren Palmerâa man, yes, a manâhas the audacity to do what so many history books donât: give the mic to the women we should have been hearing from all along.
This isn't just a roll call of forgotten names (although it has those, and they're incredible); itâs a full-on deconstruction of how society has systematically erased womenâs contributions across religion, science, art, politics, and everything in between. Palmer doesnât just highlight the women who got the short end of the historical stickâhe digs up the stick, points at the system that made it, and sets the whole thing on fire.
And can we talk about how global this is? Itâs not just a Greatest Hits of White Feminism. Weâre talking about women from all corners of the world and all periods of history who were innovating, healing, leading revolutions, andâoh yeahâgetting buried under centuries of man-made erasure.
Hereâs What Slapped:
đ Women you've never heard of doing things men got entire statues for.
đ Palmerâs concept of âEquality Without Distinctionâ is refreshingly straightforward: stop making everything about gender, and just credit people for what they actually did. Revolutionary, I know.
đ It made me want to burn my old history books and write angry letters to every school board Iâve ever had.
What Couldâve Been Better:
đ Not gonna lie, a few sections got textbook dry, but honestly? If I have to suffer through a few footnotes to learn that women basically built half of civilization and got zero credit, Iâll take the hit.
đ I wish this came with a poster-sized timeline of all the women mentionedâbecause yes, I will be name-dropping them at parties from now on.
Perfect for Readers Who Love:
đ Untold history that actually matters.
đ Angry feminist footnotes.
đ Correcting people mid-sentence with facts about women theyâve literally never heard of.
Reviewed by Robin for Robinâs Review