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!

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!

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.