Women in World History

Bonnie G. Smith is Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University, USA. She has written widely on women and gender history and her most recent publications include The Making of the West (2013), Women's Studies: The Basics (2013) and The Gender of History (2012).

• Introduction1. Productive and Reproductive Lives—c. 1450-1600 2. Early Modern Structures of Power3. Imagining Their World 1450-16004. Productive Life across a Connected Globe 1600-17505. Populations, Ideas, and the Industrious Revolution 1600-18006. Revolts, Revolutions and States 1650-18307. Industrial Work and the Local/Global Economy, 1750-18808. Modernizing Women and the Nation 1830-19009. Expanding Empires, 1870-191410. Global Warfare, 1914-194511. Decolonizing the World, Decolonizing Women12. At the Vanguard of Change: Women’s Globalization BibliographyIndex

College instructors looking for a decent textbook that includes a strong perspective on women’s roles throughout history for an undergraduate world history survey course will find that Smith’s Women in World History is a great selection. Widely celebrated as a leading scholar in women’s and gender history, Smith (Rutgers Univ.) does a superb job of balancing theoretical concerns with historical inquires in this global study of women’s history over the past 500 years, written primarily for an undergraduate audience. To many, this is an impossible task to achieve, but Smith has accomplished it triumphantly. Not only does she provide a concise and accurate narrative of historical events, she also celebrates women’s agency in the globalized past. Even more impressively, the author is highly conscious of the contributions of women in non-Western societies to the formation of the modern world, making this a truly global world history book. The glossary at the end of each chapter is an effective guide for teaching and review, and the lists for further reading are particularly helpful for students who want to explore each topic in greater depth. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.