Customer Reviews

From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World, Volume II: The Masculine Mystique: From Feudalism to the French Revolution

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French's History of Women would be improved by a more formal writing style and a more meticulous sourcing of ideas. Her tone in this volume is often sarcastic; her writing style, a little informal. What she gains in readability, she loses in credibility. She would be better served by attributing strong ideas to their sources in the text of the writing wherever possible, and responding to the scholarly conversations of others. As it is, much of the book comes off as a rant. French leaves it up to the reader to chase down the references in the back of the book and to determine their relative place in the scholarship of women's history. A survey of the history of women ought to inform the reader of the most important voices in this area. To know whom to read, and to have a sense of context, is an important part of the reader's self-education process.