Global Conversations: Women Warriors

From Vikings and African queens to cross-dressing military doctors and World War II Russian fighter pilots, there are incredible stories of women for whom battle was not a metaphor. The woman warrior has been cast as an anomaly — Joan of Arc, not GI Jane. But women, it turns out, have always gone to war.

Listen to a conversation with author Pamela D. Toler as she discusses her new book, "Women Warriors: An Unexpected History," and highlights the many women throughout world history who stepped out of their traditional female roles to take on other identities.