This collection of essays examines the construction of gender norms in early modern and modern Germany.; The modes of reinforcement by the state, the church, the law and marriage, and the resistance to these norms by individuals, are central to each of the contributions.; It examines discourses of the body and sexuality and the relations between gender and power. Similarly, the usefulness of the "public/private paradigm" familiar to gender historians is further challenged.
This book is an interesting collection of essays that trace issues related to gender in the modern period. The essays cover a wide-range of issues related to women's work, sexuality, consumer habits, and so forth. The essays show the varieties of ways that gender played a role in power dynamics in German history. If you are looking for a collection on a concentrated time period, this is not it, but if you want to have a broad overview of gender and German history from the 1500s through the mid-twentieth century, this collection contains a nice overview of different issues.