The Secret History of Wonder Woman

A lush, single-issue graphic novel from 2015, The Secret History of Wonder Woman is a standalone, non-fiction comic published by Alfred A. Knopf that unearths the surprising real-world origins of the Amazon princess. Written and drawn by acclaimed historian and cartoonist Jill Lepore, it traces Wonder Woman's creation back to the early feminist and suffragist movements, revealing the complex personal and political lives of her creator, William Moulton Marston, and the women who inspired him. More than a biography of a character, this work is a revelatory look at the hidden history of a pop-culture icon, demonstrating how a comic book heroine was forged from radical ideas about love, power, and gender. It matters as a rigorously researched, visually engaging argument that Wonder Woman's story is inseparable from the battles for women's rights in 20th-century America.