Dr. Rebecca Jennings is a Research Fellow in the Modern History department at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She has taught and researched modern British lesbian and womens history at the University of Manchester and her book, Tomboys and Bachelor Girls: A lesbian history of post-war Britain, 1945-71 was published in 2007. She is currently living in Sydney and working on a new project exploring the history of lesbian migration.

• Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 Invisibility or Cultural Renaissance? Same-Sex Desire, 1500–1800 Chapter 2 Cross-Dressing and Female Husbands, 1600–1800 Chapter 3 Romantic Friendship, 1700–1900 Chapter 4 'New Women', 1850–1900 Chapter 5 Sexology and the Science of Sex, 1880s–1920s Chapter 6 Sapphism and the First World War, 1914–1918 Chapter 7 Identity Crisis? The Emergence of the Modern Lesbian, 1918–1939 Chapter 8 Lesbian Bars, 1920s–1970s Chapter 9 Lesbian Social Organisations, 1960s–1970s Chapter 10 The Politics of Lesbianism, 1970–2000 List of Illustrations Bibliography Notes Index

This title has been reviewed jointly with Her Husband Was a Woman!: Women's Gender-Crossing in Modern British Popular Culture, by Alison Oram….Two new books make an effort to address that central question in the context of Great Britain. Jennings (history, Macquarie Univ.) covers the period from 1500 to the present day, discussing how women's same-sex relationships adjusted to larger social and political developments. She synthesizes and builds on existing research to demostrate the numerous forms lesbianism has taken across the centuries, from covert acknowledgement of homoeroticism in the 16th century to the romantic friendships of the 18th century and the bar culture of the mid-20th century. The work is valuable in its own right, and also serves as a straightforward introduction to major trends and controversies in lesbian historical scholarship….Both of these books are valuable additions to the literature. Recommended. All levels/libraries.