Women in Early Modern England 1550-1720 [Paperback]

Sara Mendelson (Author), Patricia Crawford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2000 | ISBN-10: 019820812X | ISBN-13: 978-0198208129

This is an original, accessible, and comprehensive survey of life as it was experienced by most Englishwomen during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The authors examine virtually all aspects of women's lives: female life-stages from birth to death; the separate culture of women, including female friendship and feminist consciousness; the diverse roles of women in the religious and political movements of the day; and the effect of prevailing perceptions of gender differences. Comparisons are made between the makeshift economy of poor women and the occupational identities, and preoccupations, of the middling and elite classes. This fascinating and well-illustrated book reconstructs the mental and material world of Tudor and Stuart women, and is sure to become the standard text on the subject.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Scholars interested in early modern women in England have finally gotten their long-awaited history reference book....Crawford and Mendelson's look at women's work is illuminating because it allows us to see, in very specific ways, how women always had to work....The work these women have done is both impressive and useful and, from what I have heard from other scholars, very much appreciated."--Sixteenth Century Journal

"The first truly exhaustive study of women in England between about 1550 and 1725....The authors have created a readable, engaging, and useful text that will appeal to the educated general reader as much as it will to advanced undergraduates....Should be on every college library's purchase list."--Choice

"Each chapter provides an exceedingly well written, intelligent, and nuanced analysis of the Englishwoman's world....the sheer breadth and sensitivity of the subject matter make this book an invaluable source....it is surely essential reading for all graduates and faculty studying either English history or early modern women's history."--History

About the Author

Both highly respected in women's history field

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019820812X
• ISBN-13: 978-0198208129
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #873,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative, But Laden with Excessive Post-modern Jargon, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Women in Early Modern England 1550-1720 (Hardcover)

This book provides important insight into an insufficiently examined aspect of Tudor and Stuart history. The research is impressive, the chapter summaries most helpful. The illustrations are judiciously selected. Indeed, the book is undeniably informative and interesting.

However, I can't honestly say that this work constitutes what I would regard as a masterpiece of contemporary prose style, or even a brisk and refreshing "read". I found the feminist approach here a tad doctrinaire; perhaps this somewhat heavy-handed approach can be justified in the context of a thorough re-examination of the matter. Reservations still endure. At the risk of seeming intemperate, I call down a pox on all social- scientific newspeak. Yea, the devil seize all references to paradigms, discourses, modalities and any other such bits of post-modern scholarly vocabulary. I would be delighted if there were a moratorium on the use of such words in any academic writing for at least a generation!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, August 5, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Western Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women in Early Modern England 1550-1720 (Hardcover)

I have the privilege of being a pupil of Patricia Crawford's at the University of Western Australia, so naturally I was interested in reading the product of her colloboration. For a history student this book is marvellous for an introduction into the history of our female ancestors and a welcome relief from those dry products of academia which delight in annoying and perplexing the humble reader with page long sentences, words which I suspect the author has made up and long dry recitations of 'facts'. This is an easy to read and very informative piece of work, which I would highly reccommend for all who are interested in discovering a hidden voice of early modern history - the mighty female. And just in case you're thinking my review may be laced with bias, read this book and you will see that its not.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History at its best!, February 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Women in Early Modern England 1550-1720 (Hardcover)

This book is an exciting history of all aspects of the everyday lives of early modern Englishwomen. "Female culture" is my favorite chapter because it shows how resourceful women were, despite patriarchal constraints, in developing their own traditions and bonds of solidarity. The authors even discovered a marriage between two women!