The Timetables of Women's History: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in Women's History

Taking the position that women were relegated to secondary status as history was written, the author, who has penned several studies on women in the Middle Ages, seeks to rectify that oversight. Archeological evidence, qualified as somewhat ambiguous, sheds some light on the lives of women in prehistoric times. For instance, 26,000 years ago the portrait of a woman was crafted in ivory. Nearby that discovery was found what might be her grave, apparently the burial was an honored one. The Middle Ages produced some talented artists, often nuns who copied texts and colored the illustrations; 23 female painters lived in Bologna in the 16th and 17th centuries. Prodigious research makes this text both fact-filled and fascinating. Women's history from the dawn of civilization to a mass march on Washington, D.C. is carefuly documented. - Gail Cooke