The image of Annie "Get Your Gun" Oakley symbolises the capable, athletic, self-sufficient woman of the west, and the legend is based on the true story of an uneducated servant girl who beat a professional sharpshooter in a contest. With an eye to profit the professional married her and hired her out to Buffalo Bill's Circus, where she was paid an equal wage to the male stars. Oakley maintained a demure image in private and never publicly endorsed the "votes for women" movement that was sweeping the west of America well ahead of the demand for women's suffrage that arose on the east coast. The popular 19th century doctrine of "women's proper sphere", separate from that of men, was challenged in the west by a number of factors, including the independence of Native American women, the prominence of women in the abolitionist movement, and the need for women to go west and run farm-based domestic businesses for male settlers. The suffrage movement, as the author acknowledges, was not a straightforward march of progress but was a messy and fragmented phenomenon with a range of ideological views on women's roles. During the Civil War of the 1860s two important laws were passed, one allowing women to claim free land in the west alongside male homesteaders and secondly the creation of a hundred tuition-free colleges where women could get an education. In 1869, the Wyoming Territory women became the first in Euro-American history to be enfranchised, closely followed by Mormon Utah ? half a century ahead of the Nineteenth Amendment of 1920 which in theory gave all American women the vote. This book recounts the stories of countless independent women, for instance Ellen Smith who lost her husband and one of her children on the Oregon Trail, but nevertheless continued to claim her land and establish her homestead. 277pp, photos.

In the dying years of the 18th century, the corridors of Windsor echoed to the footsteps of six princesses. They were Charlotte Princess Royal (1766-1828), Augusta (1768-1840), Elizabeth (1770-1840) he "farmer", Mary Duchess of Gloucester (1776-1857), Sophia (1777-1848), and Amelia (1783-1810), the daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Though more than 15 years divided the births of the eldest sister from the youngest, these princesses all shared a longing for escape. Faced with their father's illness and their mother's dominance, for all but one a life away from the seclusion of the royal household seemed like an unobtainable dream. Tutored in the arts of royal womanhood, they were trained from infancy in the skills vial to a regal wife but as the king's illness ravaged him, husbands and opportunities slipped away. Yet even in isolation, the lives of the princesses were filled with incident. From secret romances to dashing equerries, rumours of pregnancy, clandestine marriage and even a run-in with Napoleon, each princess was the leading lady in her own story, whether tragic or inspirational. In The Royal Nunnery: Daughters of George III, take a wander through the hallways of the royal palaces, where the king's endless ravings echo deep into the night. Raised in seclusion, although one would escape, her sisters were destined to remain the prisoners of a turbulent royal household. From Windsor to Württemberg via summer jaunts to Weymouth, their lives were forever changed by the infamous madness of George III. Meet urbane equerries and gossiping governesses, secret marriages to scandalous pregnancies and leeches to love affairs in a world where protocol was everything. 32 illus, 186 pages.

Love's labours in the fair game of making matches, marriage contracts, courting and getting caught, the wedding day, the paradise of married women, slender maintenance, careless domineering, curious wits and courtly nymphs, Sweet Bessie and Robert the Other Robert, and Essex is not the way. This entertaining and informative book explores the surprisingly varied and energetic sex and love lives of the women and men of Queen Elizabeth's England. A range of writers, from the famous, such as Shakespeare, John Donne and Ben Jonson, and lesser-known figures popular in their time, provide, in their witty stories, poems and plays, vivid pictures of Elizabethan sexual attitudes and experiences, while sober reports from the church courts tell of seductions, adulteries and rapes. Here we also encounter private journals and scenes from ordinary marriages, with complaints of women's fashions, bossy wives and domineering husbands. Besides this, there are accounts of the busy whores of London brothels, homosexual activity and the Court's amorous carousel of predatory aristocrats, promiscuous ladies and hopeful maids of honour. We conclude with the frustrations of The Virgin Queen herself. Peek beneath the bedsheets of 16th century England in this affectionate, informative and fascinating look at "ramping" and sex and sexuality on a range of topics, from religious and moral beliefs to homosexuality and prostitution. Sir Francis Bacon wrote "Nuptial love maketh mankind: friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love embaseth it." Quotes directly from poems, journals, plays, letters, sermons (mostly in modern spelling). B/w illus. 176 pages.

King John of England was married to two women: Isabella of Gloucester and Isabelle of Angoulême. The two women were central to shaping John and his reign, each in her own way moulding the unpopular king and each other over the course of their lives. Little is known about Isabella of Gloucester and she has largely become a historical footnote. She was the daughter of nobleman William FitzRobert second Earl of Gloucester and her marriage to King John in 1189 granted him rights over her substantial property as he was positioning himself as heir to Richard I (the Lionheart). Isabelle of Angoulême has a reputation as a witch and a poisoner. She was the great grand-daughter of King Louis VI of France, whose vast land holdings in France made her an attractive asset. Chapters cover childhood and education, the role of women and queens, John Plantagenet, changing roles and representation in literature. However, both were products of their time, victims and pawns of the powerful men whose voices overwrote the experiences of women. Taking a feminist light, McQuinn brightly shines it on both England's least well-known consort, Isabella of Gloucester, the king's first wife, and one of its least popular, Isabelle of Angoulême, his child bride. 8 pages of illus. 208 pages.

There are many women shaping the stories of the North of England right now like the screenwriter Sally Wainwright whose dramas Last Tango In Halifax and Happy Valley are redefining the type of roles available to northern female actors. Then of course there has been a female Dr Who and the brilliant Maxine Peake from Bolton. Cartimandua was a Northern queen, more powerful and cannier than Boadicea - what made one stay in the memory and the other disappear? Proud Northern lasses are celebrated in this comic writer's celebration of the queens of the north - warrior women, leaders, fighters, diplomats and rulers. Kate Fox takes us on a sharp and funny journey from rebels to writers, athletes to astronauts like Helen Sharman from Sheffield, the Woodbine-smoking football player Lily Parr and those who laid the ground for modern stars from Victoria Wood to Little Mix, Nicola Adams to Lubaina Himid. There is plenty of muck and bras here, Elisabeth Gaskell's North and South to Billy Elliot, the Full Monty via Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Kes, Coronation St., the working class politician Ellen Wilkinson who was instrumental in the Jarrow March, aristocrat Gertrude Bell who was the architect of modern Iraq, Sheila Fell, the Van Gogh of Cumbria and the outspoken Sunderland singer Nadine Shah. All of them hammering out their words, ideas and creations from the Northern cities, far from the centre of power. From the queen of the desert to Barbara Hepworth and plenty on the comedian's greatest heroine, the late great Victoria Wood. 291pp, paperback.

Nurses give Tube shelter garlic oil for prevention of flu as they take cover at St Johns Wood tube station during the Blitz or work at Villa Day Nursery, opened for the express purpose of releasing women for war work. A record output of 200,000 bricks in 48 hours was reached by a staff of eight women and two ex-soldiers, working to do their bit. Women assemble cylinder studs on crank cases of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines for the RAF bombers and other women workers destroy shells at the end of the war where the cordite was removed from 6-pounder shell cases. Here are Wrens on the River Tees 1945 or chatting to an American sailor in a pub in Northern Ireland, Sea Rangers at Cobham having a tea break sat on a blanket on the ground, a Petty Officer woman taking rifle training instruction, women rat catchers, land girls on horseback in the countryside or harvesting oats, WAAFs on an RAF base wheeling out their bicycles, women of the ATS who repaired army vehicles, operating searchlights or undertaking precision work in the Instrument Department. Plus boot polishing, fishing, keeping over 200 warships in order, manning AA guns, cutting logs in the Forestry Commission, gathering potatoes in a field - typically a man's job. 144pp of fantastic nostalgic photographs, last one a cheeky female chimney sweep.

Sub-titled 'Bright, Brave Poems About Escape and Freedom by Women' here is an uplifting collection from the ancient world to the present day. There are poems on wanderlust, travel, daydreams, flights of fancy, escaping into books, tranquillity, courage, hope and resilience from frustrated housewives to passionate activists, servants and suffragettes to some of today's most gifted writers. It is a bold choir of voices demanding independence and celebrating their hard-won power. Immerse yourself in poems by Carol Ann Duffy, Christina Rossetti, Stevie Smith, Sarah Crossan, Emily Dickinson, Nikita Gill, Fiona Benson to name but a few. 'A book is a thing of power. On the shelves of any library are stacked time machines, stately galleons, space shuttles and trap doors ready to plunge the reader into unfamiliar landscapes, seen through new eyes. These poems celebrate the sheer giddy delights of reading.' 130 poems with many female poets here to discover. Fairly large print, 284pp with satin page marker.

Juxtaposing the literature of jest against court records, sermons, and conduct books, Brown employs a witty, entertaining style to propose that non-elite women used jests to test the limits of their subjection. She also shows how women's mocking laughter could function as a means of social control in closely watched neighbourhoods. While official culture beatified the sheep-like wife and disciplined the scold, jesting culture often applauded the satiric shrew, whether her target was priest, cuckold, or rapist. Brown argues that listening for women's laughter can shed light on both the dramas of the street and those of the stage: plays from The Massacre of the Innocents to The Merry Wives of Windsor to The Woman's Prize taught audiences the importance of gossips' alliances as protection against slanderers, lechers, tyrants, and wife-beaters. Other jests, on the ale-house, cuckold jokes, female gossip, cony-catching pamphlets, ballads, jigs, and plays show women revelling in tales of female roguery or scoffing at the perverse patience of Griselda. As Brown points out, some women found Griselda types annoying and even foolish: better be a shrew than a sheep. Medieval line art illus, Cornell University Press 280 page paperback.

With her eyebrow raising tight clothes, generosity of heart, and a take no crap attitude, here's an inspiring, passionate exploration of the life and work of Dolly Parton, and her deep significance for generations of working-class women. Well into her 70s she continues to grace awards stages, arenas and talk shows where women of a certain age are rarely seen. Yet not so long ago, Dolly was best known by many people as the punch line of a boob joke. So, what happened? In this affectionate, sharply insightful book, Sarah Smarsh charts Dolly's meteoric rise against the backdrop of her working-class poverty, growing up in rural Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories in the Great Smoky Mountains, to stardom in Nashville and Hollywood, from girl singer manipulated by powerful men and famous for her assets up front, to self-made mogul of business, literacy and philanthropy, Smarsh crafts a resonant portrait of Dolly's cultural importance, above all for the often-unheard women who populate her songs: struggling mothers, pregnant teenagers, diner waitresses with deadbeat boyfriends. Candid, intimate and searching. Remainder mark, 188 pages.

A lavish heavyweight Dorling Kindersley visually impactful publication about the earliest signs of feminine worship in the Indian subcontinent and early goddesses seen in the Indus Valley civilisation. Archaeological excavations have yielded hundreds of enigmatic female figurines which have been widely interpreted as having religious relevance. They have elaborate headdresses, prominent eyes and thick lips. The breasts are separately moulded and attached to the body, and the navel is deep. They show complex arrangements of hair and flowers and rarely nude; clothing includes short skirts, belts and necklaces and bangles often in semi-precious stones. The volume offers a different perspective from votive offerings and cult figures from Mohenjo-Daro 2700-2100 BCE which is about 90" in height and the black residue suggests that these sculptures may have been used to burn oil or some sort of incense and of religious significance. She is benevolent and nurturing, fierce and terrible, a warrior and a lover. She creates and gives life, is death personified, and the one who grants eternal salvation. She is the ultimate form of reality, the cosmos. The Goddess inspires deep devotion and has been worshipped and revered across homes in India. Shakti delves deep into her fascinating mythology and rituals and unravel the philosophy and adaptation within many belief systems. From the origins of the Goddess in the ancient civilisation of Harappa to her evolution and changed character in contemporary times, the narrative brings together the diverse threads from different cultures, regions and traditions. Stunningly beautiful colour photography throughout, many full page including the famous image by the Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma's rendition of Kali with his blue skin trampling on Shiva to invoke fear. 392pp, 24.2 x 28.4cm.
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