The other history. Sources of gender history from the millenia

Abstract

This very informative book has been published by Schroedel-Verlag and offers both source material and working-tasks on “gender history”. It is teaching material for advanced classes in secondary schools and will without doubt be useful as introductory reading for students and other people interested in the field of gender history. The book consists of eight chapters that deal with main topics in women’s and gender history, ranging from Greek antiquity and the Middle Ages and Enlightenment into our present time. Not only have “classic” questions in women’s studies like matriarchy, women’s monasteries, witch hunts, duties of marriage and philosophical discourses of the 18th century been included into the text, it is also concerned with more recent and new approaches in gender studies. Topics like duel studies, ideas of the body and of clothing as well as attempts to define gender as a “socially and culturally constructed form of being” and questions of intersexuality and transidentity are touched upon. A particular strength of this book is—especially considering other introductory texts—is the way it presents its information. It is very much concentrated on source material. This collection often lets contemporary sources speak for themselves and restricts the commentary to the absolutely necessary minimum. This contributes to the excellent, didactically sound and very lively form of presentation.