Garthine Walker - Böcker

This volume of the Writing History series examines how theory has contributed, both explicitly and implicitly, to the writing of early modern history. It focuses upon neither abstract theory nor historiography per se, but upon the practical application and influence of theory in early modern scholarship. Throughout the book, practicing historians address theories and concepts in the light of their distinctive contribution to the period c.1500 to c.1800. Part 1 evaluates the contribution of certain influential schools of thought by offering an accessible explanation of particular theories, demonstrating their merits and demerits through examples of historical writing about a range of topics (from witchcraft to work, social relations to science, the family to dreams, the English Civil War to the French Revolution). Switching the focus on to key organizing themes such as the economy, politics and religion, Part 2 demonstrates how various theories and assumptions have informed the development of historical work on these topics. By enhancing our comprehension of each topic, this approach also offers a greater understanding of the contours of early modern history as a discipline.

An extended study of gender and crime in early modern England. It considers the ways in which criminal behaviour and perceptions of criminality were informed by ideas about gender and order, and explores their practical consequences for the men and women who were brought before the criminal courts. Dr Walker's innovative approach demonstrates that, contrary to received opinion, the law was often structured so as to make the treatment of women and men before the courts incommensurable. For the first time, early modern criminality is explored in terms of masculinity as well as femininity. Illuminating the interactions between gender and other categories such as class and civil war have implications not merely for the historiography of crime but for the social history of early modern England as a whole. This study therefore goes beyond conventional studies, and challenges hitherto accepted views of social interaction in the period.

An extended study of gender and crime in early modern England. It considers the ways in which criminal behaviour and perceptions of criminality were informed by ideas about gender and order, and explores their practical consequences for the men and women who were brought before the criminal courts. Dr Walker's innovative approach demonstrates that, contrary to received opinion, the law was often structured so as to make the treatment of women and men before the courts incommensurable. For the first time, early modern criminality is explored in terms of masculinity as well as femininity. Illuminating the interactions between gender and other categories such as class and civil war have implications not merely for the historiography of crime but for the social history of early modern England as a whole. This study therefore goes beyond conventional studies, and challenges hitherto accepted views of social interaction in the period.

This volume brings together essays that demonstrate, women during the 1550 to1750s were far from being passive victims or bystanders, and it is no longer adequate to discuss their experiences within the simple paradigm of active/passive or public/ private. By exploring the dynamics of female behaviour, these works dramatically expand the perception of the legal process, of women’s engagement with it, and of the gendered attitudes of early modern England. Each of the chapters in this book serves to qualify a model of oppressive patriarchy with women as passive victims. A crucial challenge for historians is to understand the way in which the whole of society, including women, constructed gender and allocated and imagined rôles for either sex. By closely examining behaviour when individuals exhausted social tolerance or broke fundamental taboos we gain insights difficult to achieve by other means.

Through a collection of essays by leading scholars on women's history and gender history, Gender and Change: Agency, Chronology and Periodisation questions conventional chronologies while reassessing the relationship between gender, agency, continuity and change. Celebrates 20 years of the publication of the journal Gender & HistoryReflects the extent to which gender analysis suggests alternatives to conventional periodisation. For example, whether the European Renaissance can be classified as the same period of great cultural advance when viewed from the perspective of womenOffers innovative historiographical and theoretical reflection on approaches to gender, agency, and change