Adrian Howe is Lecturer in Legal Studies at La Trobe University, Australia.

`The book is extremely well researched and I found myself making a lengthy list of new references to follow up ... makes a stimulating contribution to the debate about the future of penology and its relevance to feminism (and vise versa). At the same time, however, its detailed discussion of the development of modern penal studies will ensure it a market as a useful student textbook.' Journal of Law and Society.

• Introduction; Chapter 1 Political economies of punishment; Chapter 2 ‘New’ histories of punishment regimes; Chapter 3 The Foucault effect: from penology to penality; Chapter 4 Feminist analytical approaches to women's imprisonment; Chapter 5 Postmodern feminism and the question of penality; Chapter 6 Towards a postmodern penal politics?;