History of Women in the West

Informed by the work of seventy-five distinguished historians, this five-volume series sets before us an engaging, panoramic chronicle that extends from antiquity to the present day.

Below is a list of in-print works in this collection, presented in series order or publication order as applicable.

Sort by title, author, format, publication date, or price »
1.Cover: History of Women in the West, Volume I: From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints

History of Women in the West, Volume I: From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints

Schmitt Pantel, Pauline
Goldhammer, Arthur
Duby, Georges
Perrot, Michelle

This five-volume series sets before us a panoramic chronicle that extends from antiquity to the present day. Volume I offers insight into more than twenty centuries of Greek and Roman history and encompasses a landscape that stretches from the North Sea to the Mediterranean and from the Pillars of Hercules to the banks of the Indus.

2.Cover: History of Women in the West, Volume II: Silences of the Middle Ages

History of Women in the West, Volume II: Silences of the Middle Ages

Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane
Goldhammer, Arthur
Duby, Georges
Perrot, Michelle

Drawing on myriad sources, this second volume in the celebrated series offers new perspectives on women. Twelve historians examine the image of women in the masculine mind, their social condition, and their daily experience from the end of the Roman Empire to the genesis of the Italian Renaissance.

3.Cover: History of Women in the West, Volume III: Renaissance and the Enlightenment Paradoxes

History of Women in the West, Volume III: Renaissance and the Enlightenment Paradoxes

Davis, Natalie Zemon
Farge, Arlette
Goldhammer, Arthur
Duby, Georges
Perrot, Michelle

This book draws a richly detailed picture of women in early modern Europe, considering them in a context of work, marriage, and family. At the heart of this volume is “woman” as she appears in a wealth of representations, from simple woodcuts and popular literature to master paintings; and as the focal point of a debate—sometimes humorous, sometimes acrimonious—conducted in every field: letters, arts, philosophy, the sciences, and medicine. Women from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries emerge from these pages in remarkable diversity.

4.Cover: History of Women in the West, Volume IV: Emerging Feminism from Revolution to World War

History of Women in the West, Volume IV: Emerging Feminism from Revolution to World War

Fraisse, Geneviève
Perrot, Michelle
Goldhammer, Arthur
Duby, Georges
Perrot, Michelle

This volume of the world-acclaimed series covers the period between the French Revolution and World War I. It gives us a vibrant picture of a bourgeois century, dynamic and expansive, in which the role of woman in the home was stressed, even as the economic pressures and opportunities of the industrial revolution drew her out of the house.

5.Cover: History of Women in the West, Volume V: Toward a Cultural Identity in the Twentieth Century

History of Women in the West, Volume V: Toward a Cultural Identity in the Twentieth Century

Thébaud, Françoise
Goldhammer, Arthur
Duby, Georges
Perrot, Michelle

This fifth volume in the world-acclaimed series brings the history of women up to the present, placing it in the context of momentous events and profound social changes that have marked our time.

Sort by title, author, format, publication date, or price »

Back to top

Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé, by Elizabeth Cobbs, from Harvard University Press

Recent News

Black lives matter. Black voices matter. A statement from HUP »

From Our Blog

Photograph of the book Fearless Women against red/white striped background

A Conversation with Elizabeth Cobbs about Fearless Women

For Women’s History Month, we are highlighting the work of Elizabeth Cobbs, whose new book Fearless Women shows how the movement for women’s rights has been deeply entwined with the history of the United States since its founding. Cobbs traces the lives of pathbreaking women who, inspired by American ideals, fought for the cause in their own ways