Reference Books

A Concise Dictionary of Middle English - $15.00
AL Mayhew, Walter W Skeat, JM Brenden. This dictionary will serve as an aid to anyone reading Middle English. Professor Skeat wrote in his original Preface that this work is "intended to meet, in some measure, the requirements of those who wish to make some study of Middle-English, and who find a difficulty in obtaining such assistance as will enable them to find out the meanings and etymologies of the words most essential to their purpose." The small size and cost of this edition makes it both useful and affordable to casual readers, high school and college students, and even scholars. Anyone interested in medieval studies will benefit from adding this little wonder of a resource to their personal library. 346pp. Pb.

A Middle English Reader & Vocabulary - $33.00
Kenneth Sisam & J R R Tolkien. This highly respected anthology of medieval English literature features numerous well-chosen extracts of poetry and prose, including popular tales from Arthurian legend and classical mythology, as well as the allegorical poem Piers Plowman and John Wycliffe's translation of the Bible. Includes notes on each extract, appendices, and an extensive glossary by J. R. R. Tolkien. 512pp. Pb.

Celtic Art in Pagan and Christian Times - $17.00
J Romilly Allen. This classic of scholarly research explores the origins of Celtic art in Britain, Ireland, and Europe. Illustrated with 44 plates of photographs and line drawings of artifacts from a variety of sites, this study traces Celtic art in the Bronze and early Iron Ages, as well as Celtic art of the Christian period. 362pp. Pb.

Celtic Ornament in the British Isles - $15.00
E. T. Leeds. This well-documented study traces the history and evolution of pre-Christian Celtic ornamentation in the British Isles, focusing especially on less familiar or less accessible relics from the pagan past. From the earliest beginnings to 700AD, the author describes and discusses examples ranging from fragments of a bronze hanging-bowl ornamented with finely detailed palm leaves, to a handsome bronze-bound bucket decorated with yin-yang scrollwork and horses with feathery tails. Also here are detailed, carefully researched chapters on early British numismatic art, the Celts as delineators of human and animal figures, Roman influence in the crafting of embossed bronze brooches and more. More than 80 photographs and illustrations, including 18 in color, depict bronze engraved mirrors, ox-head finials, a pendant with a Medusa-like head, and other artifacts, further enhancing this concise and informative work - a classic study certain to be highly valued by students of design and archaeology and anyone interested in Celtic ornamentation. Unabridged Dover republication of the edition originally published by Oxford University Press, London, 1933. 224pp. Pb.

Cities of the Renaissance World: Maps From Civitatis Orbis Terrarium - $79.00
Michael Swift & Angus Konstam. The first volume of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum was published in Cologne in 1572. This great city atlas, edited by Georg Braun and largely engraved by Franz Hogenberg, eventually contained 546 prospects, bird's eye views and maps of cities from all over the world. This book chooses 53 maps from Civitates - 65 cities from Cuzco in the Americas to Calcutta in the Indies - and interprets them, explaining what can be seen in the 16th century map, and how that differs from today's cities. 224pp. Hb.

Curious Myths of the Middle Ages - $25.00
Sabine Baring-Gould. An Absorbing compilation of vintage tales surrounding such figures as William Tell, Saint Patrick, the Pied Piper, the Knights of the Holy Grail, and the Man in the Moon, complete with introductory essays on their mythological or historical origins. Unabridged republication of the edition published by Longmans, Green, and Co., London, 1894. 384pp. Pb.

Daily Life in the Middle Ages - $49.00
Richard Britnell. What was life like in the towns and villages of England in the late Middle Ages? A group of specialists here bring together the results of the latest researches to tell the fascinating story of how men and women lived in England from the time of Agincourt to the end of the Wars of the Roses and the establishment of the Tudor monarchy. This fully illustrated survey offers insights into all aspects of everyday life, whether at work, play or prayer. 234pp. Hb.

Growing Up In Medieval London - $19.00
Barbara Hanawalt. The public documents, wills, advice manuals, and literary works from medieval London, show that in this time period that childhood and adolescence were acknowledged stages of life and that youngsters were to be protected and educated. If beating was considered more effective than scolding, and males had a higher social value, childhood, at least among the gentry and merchant classes, was not markedly different from our own day. Female-headed households were common, as were families with stepchildren; climbing the social ladder was encouraged. For both sexes, the transition from childhood to adolescence was denoted by entry into service or apprenticeship - by the 15th century, at ages 16 to 18. Education was a priority as the guilds often required literacy. Girls were not excluded; widows carried on their merchant husband's affairs and educated women were desirable as marriage partners. Some youngsters, particularly vulnerable females, were at risk from unscrupulous adults, but the records suggest that a clever adolescent often outwitted an evil master. The author embellishes court documents to create engaging narratives of the lives of individual children in a manner so alive and illuminating that even the most bored history students will be enthralled. 320pp. Pb.

Handbook For William: A Carolingian Woman's Counsel for Her Son - $26.00
Dhouda. "I send you this little book written down in my name, that you may read it for your education, as a kind of mirror." So wrote the Frankish noblewoman Dhuoda to her young son William in the middle of the ninth century. Intended as a guide to right conduct, the book was to be shared in time with William's younger brother. Dhuoda's situation was poignant. Her husband, Bernard, the count of Septimania, was away and she was separated from her children. William was being held by Charles the Bald as a guarantee of his father's loyalty, and the younger son's whereabouts were unknown. As war raged in the crumbling Carolingian Empire, the grieving mother, fearing for the spiritual and physical welfare of her absent sons, began in 841 to write her loving counsel in a handbook. Two years later she sent it to William. Handbook for William memorably expresses Dhuoda's maternal feelings, religious fervor, and learning. In teaching her children how they might flourish in God's eyes, as well as humanity's, Dhuoda reveals the authority of Carolingian women in aristocratic households. She dwells on family relations, social order, the connection between religious and military responsibility, and, always, the central place of Christian devotion in a noble life. One of the few surviving texts written by a woman in the Middle Ages. 163pp. Pb.

In Praise of Folly - Erasmus - $4.00
Desiderius Erasmus. Witty, influential work by one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance satirizes the shortcomings of the upper classes and religious institutions. Required reading for humanities classes, this literary gem is ripe with vignettes and caricatures - with Folly, a metaphor for stupidity, the centerpiece. Unabridged republication of the John Wilson translation. 80pp. Pb.

The Knights Next Door: Everyday People Living Middle Ages Dreams - $51.00
Patrick O'Donnell. This book recounts the author's attempts as a total "fish-out-of-water" newcomer to make sense of the unique Society for Creative Anachronism subculture, starting in 2001. It also tells the tales of the local time-traveling veterans who help him, of the interesting characters he meets on his journey and of a young fighter struggling through some personal and SCA troubles in his bid to become a Knight and King in this re-created medieval world. The author, a reporter for the Metro section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, attended events across the USA and in Europe, made the clothes, made the armor and fought in the worlds-largest medieval battles at the SCA's biggest event, the Pennsic War, to give readers a behind-the-shield look at the modern medieval world. 296pp. Pb.

Life in a Medieval Castle and Village - $6.00
John Green. A panorama of life in the Middle Ages in 42 realistically detailed drawings ranging from scenes of everyday life in castle, village, monastery and countryside, to dramatic and colorful portrayals of tournaments, castle sieges, banquets, the building of a cathedral, battles, fairs and more. 48pp. Pb.

Life in a Medieval Village - $23.00
Frances Gies & Joseph Gies. The vast majority of medieval Europeans lived in villages. The development and difficult-to-define concept of the village is traced, and examples of daily occurrences in the village hierarchy, the inhabitants, marriage and family, work, and in the judicial system are given. The decline of the village as a major social system concludes the study. This distillation of period documents and archeological records focuses on Elton, an extant village located 70 miles north of London. The dynamics of Elton's open-field type of agriculture; the division of the villagers into free and unfree, rich and poor; and the relationship between peasants and their ecclesiastical lord are all examined. Also discussed are the peasants' simple dress; meager diet; primitive housing; quarrels and lawsuits; sexual mores; rites of marriage, death and inheritance; and penchant for ale. Coroners' rolls reveal that parents frequently neglected infants; and court accounts demonstrate that witnesses of crimes were obligated to come to the rescue of the victim. Fascinating stuff. 272pp. Pb.

Life in Celtic Times - $10.00
A J Smith. Fourteen centuries of Celtic life and culture depicted in over 40 well-researched, excellently rendered illustrations. Intriguing scenes of an Iron-Age village, Glastonbury fishermen, farmers harvesting grain, Celtic warriors on horseback, St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland and much more. Descriptive captions. 48pp. Pb.

Markets and Marketplaces - $26.00
Anna Hallett. The market towns of the British Isles were a vital part of rural life, offering farmers and traders the opportunity to bring their produce to sell. Today, many of these traditional market towns still trade once a week, attracting locals and tourists alike to their streets. This book charts the history of markets in the British Isles from the small rural fairs selling harvested crops, to the teeming markets of London’s Covent Garden, Smithfield and Camden. The author surveys the historic buildings and sites where these markets took place, and describes how they worked and what they sold. Accompanied throughout by colour photographs and paintings. ‘Markets and Marketplaces’ is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the history of British towns and society. 128pp. Pb.

Medieval Celebrations - $44.00
Daniel Diehl and Mark Donnelly. Medieval historians Diehl and Donnelly provide ideas and instructions for planning an authentic medieval celebration, complete with guidelines on proper table manners, lyrics and music for festive songs and dances, rules for games, plans for decorating the dining hall, food and drink recipes, and period costume patterns. Specific information is offered for holiday celebrations and wedding services and receptions. 192pp. Pb.

Medieval Children - $69.00
Nicholas Orme. Each stage of childhood in the medieval world, from birth to adolescence, is examined. Since birth in the Middle Ages was fraught with dangers, the Church provided women with relics to assure a safe delivery. Parents remembered children's birthdays by associating the day with a saint's feast day, but apart from records kept by royal families, there were few written birth records. Children devised songs, rhymes and games using cherry pits and hazelnuts, for instance; toys ranged from simple peashooters hollowed from balsam wood to more elaborate dolls and mechanical toys made for royalty. As children grew up, boys did manual labor alongside their fathers while girls helped their mothers with domestic tasks. Orme's fascinating study reveals medieval society through a keen look at its youngest inhabitants. Meticulous detail and 125 luscious illustrations, 75 in color. 400pp. Hb.

Medieval Iceland - $35.00
Jesse Byock. The history of medieval Europe is incomplete if it does not take Iceland into account. Jesse Byock's reassessment of medieval Iceland uses all the available sources, the medieval Icelanders' historical writings, extensive saga literature, and intricate laws, to explore the way Iceland's social order functioned. 264pp. Pb.

Medieval Intrigue: Decoding Royal Conspiracies - $47.00
Ian Mortimer. In this book, the author examines the controversial topic as to whether Edward II was murdered, his possible later life in Italy, the weakness of the Lancastrian claim to the throne in 1399, and the origins of the idea of the royal pretender. Central to this book is his groundbreaking approach to medieval evidence. He explains how an information-based method allows a more certain reading of a series of texts. He criticises existing modes of arriving at consensus and outlines a process of historical analysis that ultimately leads to questioning historical doubts as well as historical facts, with profound implications for what we can say about the past with certainty. This is an important work from one of the most original and popular medieval historians writing today. 400pp. Hb.

Medieval People - $16.00
Eileen Power. Classic study recreates the lives of six real but ordinary people who lived between the 9th and 16th centuries. Drawing on account books, diaries, letters, records, wills and other authentic historical documents, she brings to vivid life Bodo, a Frankish peasant in Charlemagne's time; Marco Polo, the well-known Venetian traveler of the 13th century; Madame Eglentyne, Chaucer's prioress in real life; a Parisian housewife of the 14th century; Thomas Betson, a 15th century English merchant; and Thomas Paycocke of Coggeshall, an Essex clothier in the days of Henry VII. 256pp. Pb.

Medieval Russia 980-1584 - $48.00
Janet Martin. This is a concise, yet comprehensive narrative of the history of Russia from the reign of Vladimir I the Saint, through to the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible. Janet Martin emphasizes the dynamics of Russia's political evolution from the loose federation of principalities known as Kievan Rus' through the era of Mongol domination to the development of the Muscovite state. Her analyses of the ruling dynasty, of economic influences on political development, and her explorations of society, foreign relations, religion, and culture provide a basis for understanding the transformations of the lands of Rus'. Her lines of argument are clear and coherent; her conclusions and interpretations are provocative. The result is an informative, accessible, up-to-date account that will be of interest to both students and specialists of early Rus'. 540pp. Pb.

The Medieval Scene: An Informal Introduction to the Middle Ages - $14.00
G G Coulton. Vivid, eminently readable account by one of the foremost historians of the medieval period provides fascinating insights into the Church's role in village life, the development of towns and use of fields, the growth of chivalry and evolution of knighthood, monasticism, trade, and much more. 192pp. Pb.

The Medieval Village - $32.00
G G Coulton. Renowned medievalist offers exceptionally detailed, comprehensive and vivid picture of medieval peasant life, including nature of serfdom, manorial customs, village discipline, peasant revolts, the Black Death, justice, tithing, games and dance, much more. Much on exploitation of peasant classes. 603pp. Pb.

Medieval Women - $31.00
Eileen Power. Throughout her career as a medieval historian, Eileen Power was engaged on a book on women in the Middle Ages. She did not live to write the book but some of the material she collected found its way into her popular lectures on medieval women. These lectures are now brought together, edited by M. M. Postan, and reveal the world in which women lived, were educated, worked, and worshipped. Power gives a vivid account of the worlds of the lady, the peasant, the townswoman, and the nun. The result is a historical yet intimate picture of a period gone by yet with resonances for today. For this edition, Maxine Berg is also included, offering an intimate portrait of the writer and social historian. 136pp. Pb.

Medieval Women - $26.00
Henrietta Leyser. The author considers the problems and attitudes fundamental to every woman of the time: medieval views on sex, marriage and motherhood; the world of work and the experience of widowhood for peasant, townswoman and aristocrat. The intellectual and spiritual worlds of medieval women are also explored. MEDIEVAL WOMEN celebrates the diversity and vitality of English women's lives in the Middle Ages. 688pp. Pb.

The Middle Ages - $8.00
Edmund V Gillon, Jr. The pictures in this coloring book are real illustrations from the Middle Ages, dating from 1475 to 1500. Included are a knight swallowed by a monster, scenes from the bible, battles and combats, Jerusalem, agricultural activities, animals, etc. Over 50 illustrations. 48pp. Pb.

Nerthus' Procession: An Environmental History - $41.00
Matthew Holmes. An environmental history of agriculture drawing from history, environmental archaeology, and paleoecology. Looks at general history of agriculture in the West, and Neolithic and Medieval European cultural and social history, from a social ecology perspective. 99pp. Pb.

Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum: A List of Anglo-Saxon Proper Names from the Time of Beda to That of King John - $71.00
William George Searle. Originally published in 1897. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies. All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. 668pp. Pb.

Osprey: The Tower of London: A 2000 Year History - $9.00
Geoffrey Parnell. The Tower of London is one of the most famous and well-visited landmarks in the world, with a fascinating history brought to life in a uniquely visual way for the first time through this stunning book. 14 specially commissioned paintings by the renowned historical reconstruction artist, Ivan Lapper show the Tower from its earliest pre-Roman days, right up to the start of this new millennium. A fascinating and engaging narrative by the official Keeper of Tower History, Geoffrey Parnell, brings the sights, sounds, events and characters of the past to life. 48pp. Pb.

Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages - $20.00
Maurice DeWulf. An accessible survey of major philosophical trends and thinkers. Based on DeWulf's famous Princeton University lectures, this book offers a comprehensive study of scholastic, ecclesiastic, and secular/classicist thought from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. From Anselm and Abelard, to Thomas Aquinas and William of Occam, this is an indispensable reference to a most vital period in Western thought. 320pp. Pb.

The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery and Lore of the Persian Carpet - $25.00
Brian Murphy. Madder is a plant whose root is dried and ground into red powder to dye carpets. The precise origin of carpets is not known, but few places have nurtured the craft and artistry of carpets more than Iran. The author, who made frequent trips to Iran and Afghanistan from 1999 to 2004 to research the book, explains the patterns, knots, and origins of carpets and the history of this remote region, describing its hunger, war, hopelessness, and poverty. He tells how the men herd and shear the sheep, the women spin the wool, the men dye the wool, the women weave the carpet, and, finally, the men market the product. Murphy also describes how child labor is used in making the carpets. With eight pages of color photographs, this book is an engaging account of these colorful rugs. 320pp. Pb.

The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times & Folklore - $25.00
Hilda M Ransome. Well-documented, copiously illustrated study of the creature that has provided the world with wholesome food and inspired many beliefs and superstitions. Chapters cover the folklore of bees and bee culture - from Egyptian, Babylonian, and other ancient sources to practices in modern Europe. Rare illustrations of bees, hives, and beekeepers as they appear in paintings and sculpture; on coins, jewelry, and Mayan glyphs; and carved into African tree trunks. 35 plates of black-and-white illustrations. 320pp. Pb.

Salisbury Cathedral: Feature Details - $16.00
Susan Evelyn. A walk past some of the fascinating details of Salisbury Cathedral, in pictures. Photographs of the features of the Cathedral, including some memorials, tombs, stained glass windows, the chapels and medieval treasures. 21pp. Pb.

Terry Jones' Barbarians - $20.00
Terry Jones. The author attempts to overturn the popular conception of the glorious Roman Empire, which, he says, is mostly propaganda. He claims that the barbarians — a general term describing the tribes of western and northern Europe, and of the Middle East — have for too long been slandered as "savages" by the allegedly more advanced and civilized Romans and their descendants. In fact, these assorted Celts, Vandals, Persians and Goths were technologically, economically and intellectually sophisticated, but were on the wrong side of history. While scholars will sniff at Jones's offhand humor, somewhat wide-eyed "revelations" — which have been revealed before — and tendency to believe the vastly exaggerated death tolls of the time (he relies on Plutarch's figure that Julius Caesar slaughtered a million Gauls, a virtually impossible feat), readers will go along for a most enjoyable ride and appreciate his fascinating tale of the barbarians' lost world. 320pp. Pb.

Terry Jones' Medieval Lives - $19.00
Terry Jones. Terry Jones and Alan Ereira are your guides to this most misrepresented and misunderstood period, and they point you to things that will surprise and provoke. For example, that medieval people didn't think the world was flat. That was a total fabrication by an American journalist in the 19th century. That they didn't burn witches in the Middle Ages. That was a refinement of the Renaissance. In fact, medieval kings weren't necessarily merciless tyrants and peasants entertained at home using French pottery and fine wine. Terry Jones' Medieval Lives reveals Medieval Britain as you have never seen it before - a vibrant society teeming with individuality, intrigue and innovation. He laces the latest academic research with his own avuncular humour. 256pp. Pb.

The Prince - $4.00
Niccolo Machiavelli. Classic guide to acquiring and maintaining political power is refreshing in its directness, yet often disturbing in its cold practicality. Starkly relevant to the political upheavals of the 20th century, this calculating prescription for power remains today, nearly 500 years after it was written, a timely and startling lesson in the practice of autocratic rule. 80pp. Pb.

The Queen's Slave Trader: John Hawkyns - $23.00
Nick Hazelwood. Blame for the introduction of slavery into America has been squarely placed upon the slave traders, the merchants, and the slave owners. There is another person also to blame, England's Queen Elizabeth I. During the 1560s, Elizabeth was encouraging a Renaissance in her kingdom but also knew her country's economy could not finance her dreams for it. On direct orders from Her Majesty, John Hawkyns set sail from England. His destination: West Africa. His mission: to capture human lives. After landing on the African coast, he used a series of brutal raids, violent beatings, and sheer terror to load his ships. As the first major slave trader, Hawkyns's actions and attitudes toward his cargo set the precedent for those who followed him for the next two hundred years. In The Queen's Slave Trader, historian Nick Hazlewood's haunting discoveries take you into the mind-set of the men who made their livelihoods trafficking human souls and reveals the man who began it all, and the woman behind him. 416pp. Pb.

The Ties That Bound - $35.00
Barbara A. Hanawalt. The author uses 3118 coroners' inquests into accidental deaths (mostly 14th century) and manorial court records (13th to early 16th century) to explore Medieval English peasant families' homes, furnishings, clothing, food, kinship bonds, home economy, and stages of life. It also includes a lively criticism of other historians who have generalized about the subject. 364pp. Pb.

The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England - $20.00
Ian Mortimer. The past is a foreign country: this is your guidebook. Imagine you could get into a time machine and travel back to the fourteenth century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? Should you go to a castle or a monastic guesthouse? And what are you going to eat? What sort of food are you going to be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord? This radical new approach turns our entire understanding of history upside down. It shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. It sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you, the reader, to the middle ages, and showing you everything from the horrors of leprosy and war to the ridiculous excesses of roasted larks and haute couture. Being a guidebook, many questions are answered which do not normally occur in traditional history books. How do you greet people in the street? What should you use for toilet paper? How fast - and how safely - can you travel? Why might a physician want to taste your blood? And how do you test to see if you are going down with the plague? The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: revolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail, and startling for its portrayal of humanity in an age of violence, exuberance and fear. 368pp. Pb.

The Tolkien Fan's Medieval Reader - $25.00
Turgon. Fans will thrill to read - for the first time in an accessible, modernized rendering - the medieval stories, myths and legends that were the driving force behind The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Turgon (co-author of The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien) and one of the founding members and main contributors of the Internet's most popular Tolkien fan website - theonering.net - presents modern prose renderings of some of the essential works of medieval literature that were inspirations to Tolkien. For those daunted by the alliterative verse-form of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, even in Tolkien's own translation, here is the essential narrative of the poem to be read in readable, updated prose. It can thus be used as stepping stone in approaching Tolkien's excellent translation, where the artistry of the verse will be more quickly appreciated when the story is already familiar. 416pp. Pb.

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville: The Fantastic 14th Century Account of a Journey to the East - $16.00
John Mandeville. One of the most influential books of the medieval period - a fascinating work of fact and fancy Written in the fourteenth century to encourage and instruct pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, five centuries passed before its remarkably exacting accounts of events and geography were unmasked as fabrications. This book has nevertheless retained its place as one of the greatest and most entertaining works of early English vernacular prose. 288pp. Pb.

Vasari's Lives of the Artists - $12.00
Giorgio Vasari. Vasari's colorful and detailed portraits of the most representative figures of Italian art trace the flowering of the Renaissance across three centuries. This single-volume edition of selections from Vasari's immense work profiles 8 of the book's most noteworthy artists and includes an introduction, notes, and glossary; and woodcut portraits of each artist by Vasari himself. 256pp. Pb.

The Vikings - $36.00
Keith Durham, Mark Harrison, & Ian Heath. The history of the Vikings is bloody and eventful, and Viking warriors capture the popular imagination to this day. Viking raids reached from Norway to North Africa, they established the dukedom of Normandy, provided the Byzantine Emperor's bodyguard and landed on the shores of America 500 years before Columbus. The authors provide a detailed examination of the Viking Hersir, the raiding warrior of the Viking world, and the famed Viking longship that transported the Vikings through treacherous waters to their bloody raids. This beautifully illustrated book includes new material about the Vikings in North America and the lives the Viking led at home. 208pp. Hb.

The Wealth of Wives - $31.00
Barbara A Hanawalt. London became an international center for import and export trade in the late Middle Ages. While capital for these ventures came from a variety of sources, the recirculation of wealth through London women was important for the growth of London's economy. A shrewd Venetian visiting England around 1500 commented about the concentration of wealth and property in women's hands. Women inherited equally with men and widows had custody of the wealth of minor children. In a society in which marriage was assumed to be a natural state for women, London women married and remarried, their wealth following them into their subsequent marriages. This study, based on extensive use of primary source materials, shows that women's chief economic impact was felt in the capital and skill they brought with them to marriages, rather than their profits as independent traders or wage laborers. 332pp. Pb.

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years - $27.00
Elizabeth Wayland Barber. The author uses data gleaned from her research on prehistoric textiles to recreate the daily lives of women from 20,000 B.C. to 500 B.C. Since few textiles survived from so long ago, she draws her evidence from weaving and spinning tools, paintings on pottery and furniture, figurines, linguistic history, mythology and written accounts, and through correlations drawn between ancient techniques and those still practiced. You'll be fascinated by reconstructions of how women might have lived and worked. Black & white line drawings and photos of artifacts. 334pp. Pb.