Synopses & Reviews
This classic two-volume history is an exciting and revolutionary look at women's history from prehistoric times to the present. Its unique organization focuses on the developments, achievements, and changes in women's roles in society. Rather than examining women's history as an inevitable progression of events along a strict timeline, this text is organized within a loose chronology, with chapters focusing on women's place and function in society. This revised edition provides a new introduction, an updated epilogue on women's lives in Europe since 1988, and a completely revised bibliography that includes recent scholarship.
A History of Their Own restores women to the historical record, brings their history into focus, and provides models of female action and heroism. Lively and engaging, this new edition takes readers on a fascinating journey through women's history and the changing roles they have played. In addition it is an ideal text for general courses in women's studies and women's history and more specialized courses focusing on women in European history.
Volume Two covers the fifteenth century to the present. Topics include the roles of female monarchs and women of the court; the application of the new tools of the Scientific Revolution to prove traditional views of women; the salons and parlors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and wealthy women's contributions to the arts and social services; the impact of city-living and the Industrial Revolution on women's roles and family life; and the emergence, evolution, and impact of the modern feminist movement.
Review
"This is a large volume in what is now the overwritten history of women in the Western Middle Ages. The attempt by the authors to put women into focus by redefining the chronology and traditional concepts of European history may have some interest as a novel approach, but it leaves the reader frustrated and confused. The peasant woman, the noble woman, the woman in religious orders, and the woman in the town are dealt with from the period of the invasions to the 17th century through a long string of facts and figures by which the reader is invited to compare their lives. The basic forces which shaped the social outlook and legal structure are lost sight of in the superabundance of illustrative incidents. The discussion of childbearing, for instance, which remained virtually the same for all classes over a long period is padded with references, while important aspects of female status, such as women's rights in land, are neglected. The number of errors suggests some haste in compilation; Benton on the courts of love, and Cohn on witchcraft are absent from the bibliography. To be sure, there are a great many points of interest in the course of this long narrative, but it falls disappointingly short of the scholarly analysis which would be of great value. The concern of the authors is to show how the lives of women were related to and shaped by the lives of men. But there is little that is new, except that the title of the book is, therefore, made to belie its contents." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
VI. Women of the Courts: Rulers, Patrons, and Attendants
1. The World of Absolute Monarchs from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries
2. The Life of the Courtier
3. The Traditional Life in a Grand Setting: Wife and Queen Consort
4. Women Rulers
5. New Opportunities
6. The Legacies of Renaissance Humanism and the Scientific Revolution
VII. Women of the Salons and Parlors: Ladies, Housewives, and Professionals
1. Women in the Salons
2. Women in the Parlors
3. Leaving the Parlors
4. Opportunities and Limits: Change and Tradition in the Twentieth Century
VIII: Women of the Cities: Mothers, Workers, and Revolutionaries
1. Family Life
2. Earning Income
3. Revolutions and Reforms
4. Community and Change: Women in World War II and After
IX. Traditions Rejected: A History of Feminism in Europe
1. Feminism in Europe
2. Asserting Women's Humanity: Early European Feminists
3. Asserting Women's Legal and Political Equality: Equal Rights Movements in Europe
4. Feminist Socialism in Europe
5. The Women's Liberation Movement
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index