Life and times of Tiger Queen Mabel Stark

In early 20th century American life, women might not have been able to vote or to serve on juries in most states, but in the ring, they commanded the audience’s attention riding bareback on horses, displaying strength and stamina, and performing gravity-defying acrobatic feats. Stark was acutely aware of the path she was paving. “I deliberately chose a field in which no other woman had specialised,” she wrote in her autobiography.