Exploring the Lives of Women 1558-1837 is a collected work of essays from a number of contributors, including the four principal editors Louise Duckling, Sara Read, Felicity Roberts, and Carolyn D. Williams. This book was created to commemorate the 30 year anniversary of the Women’s Studies Group 1558-1837. This group was created Yvonne Noble to gather together researchers who felt outside of the mainstream element of academia. The community and companionship fostered by this book not only shows the strength of this group, but also the power of women in history. Continue reading “Exploring the Lives of Women 1558-1837 from @kleffnotes”

Sinéad Spearing reveals the stories of forgotten women in history who worked as physicians and found themselves demonized by society for their work. While these women were the opposite of the witch stereotype as they often traveled from village to village sharing their skills and healing those in need, but ultimately they were decried as doing evil magics and in many cases labeled as witches. Spearing draws from archaeological evidence, folklore, literature, and a variety of other sources to reveal the truly incredible female healers in her book A History of Women in Medicine: Cunning Women, Physicians, Witches. Continue reading “A History of Women in Medicine Book Review from @kleffnotes”

With so many true crime shows and podcasts in the world you would think that the history of crime has been completely uncovered, but for the women who committed crime throughout history that is not the case. This rich field of research is the focus of Lucy Williams and Barry Godfrey in their book Criminal Women 1850-1920 Researching the Lives of Britain’s Female Offenders. While male criminals are slightly more easy to pin down, women are able to slip through the cracks for a variety of reasons, which makes their history as offenders something remarkably interesting. If you are a history buff or a true crime fanatic this book not only shares the crimes of women who might not know about, but also how you can become a researcher yourself. Continue reading “Criminal Women 1850-1920 Book Review from @kleffnotes”