Women's Agency in Early Modern Britain and the American Colonies

This engaging, exciting book looks at the world of the strong, enterprising, forceful and occasionally manipulative women in early modern Britain and America.

• Contests the accepted view that these were male-dominated patriarchal societies, in which women played a subordinate and generally private role.

• Challenges these orthodoxies and shows that were important agents in the social, economic, religious and cultural life of their societies.

• No other book looks in such depth not only at the role of women within marriage but also at their cultural roles.

• No other book draws on such a wide range of both primary and secondary sources.

Rosemary O?Day is Professor of History at the Open University. Her work is focussed on English and American early modern social and religious history. She has published many books and always begins her studies with an exhaustive study of original manuscript and printed sources.