Women and Gender in the Western Past -1500 To Present -Volume II

by Katherine L. French, Allyson M. Poska

This two-volume survey of the history of women in western civilization spans prehistory to the present. While devoting attention to women of all classes, religions, and ethnicities, the text examines political, economic, intellectual, and social history through the lens of gender. The narrative emphasizes women's agency over oppression and makes cutting-edge scholarship in women's history accessible to a wide audience. Five major themes run throughout the narrative: the relationship between key historical events and ideas and women's lives, the history of the family and sexuality, the social construction of gender, cultural assumptions about women (versus their actual lives), and self perception and women's place in western societies. A rich collection of primary sources and biographies reinforces these themes.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism

411 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 2006

About the author

Katherine French is a Professor of Medieval English History at the University of Michigan. She specializes in Medieval and women's history.

Her work has received support from Radcliffe Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Historical Association, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation.