This is an important study of English women's participation in the market economy from 1300 to 1620.

The English Studies Book is uniquely designed to support students and teachers working across the full range of language, literature and culture. Combining the functions of study guide, critical dictionary and text anthology, it has rapidly established itself as a core text on a wide variety of degree programmes nationally and internationally. Revised and updated throughout, features of the second edition include: * a new prologue addressing changes and challenges in English Studies * substantial entries on over 100 key critical and theoretical terms, from 'absence' and 'author' to 'text' and 'versification' - with new entries on 'creative writing', 'travel writing' and 'translation' * practical introductions to all the major theoretical approaches, with new sections on aesthetics, ethics, ecology and sexuality * a rich anthology of literary and related texts from Anglo-Saxon to Afro-Caribbean, with fresh selections representing the sonnet, haiku, slave narratives and science fiction, and with additional texts by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Darwin, Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan and others * handy frameworks and checklists for close reading, research, essay writing and other textual activities, including use of the Internet.

The first monograph on this topic since 1961, this book provides an innovative interpretation of the Friendly Societies in Britain from the perspectives on social, gender and political history. It establishes the central role of the Friendly Societies in the political activism of British workers, changing understandings of masculinity and femininity, the ritualised expression of social tensions and the origins of the welfare state.

This book was first published in 1929. The working woman was not, a Victorian institution. The word spinster disproves any upstart origin for the sisterhood of toil. Nor was she as a literary figure the discovery of Victorian witers in search of fresh material. Chaucer included unmemorable working women and Charlotte Bronte in 'Shirley' had Caroline Helstone a reflection that spinning 'kept her servants up very late'. It seems that the Victorians see the women worker as an object of oity, portrated in early nineteenth century as a victim of long hours, injustice and unfavourable conditions. This volume looks at the working woman in British industries and professions from 1832 to1850.

First published in 1988, this encyclopedia serves as an overview and point of entry to the complex interdisciplinary field of Victorian studies. The signed articles, which cover persons, events, institutions, topics, groups and artefacts in Great Britain between 1837 and 1901, have been written by authorities in the field and contain bibliographies to provide guidelines for further research. The work is intended for undergraduates and the general reader, and also as a starting point for graduates who wish to explore new fields.