Women and Gender in the Western Past Volume 1

About this book

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 womens agency over oppression and makes cutting-edge scholarship in womens history accessible to a wide audience. Five major themes run throughout the narrative: the relationship between key historical events and ideas and womens 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 womens place in western societies. A rich collection of primary sources and biographies reinforces these themes.