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Books > Humanities > History > European history > General
Now in its fourth edition, this highly acclaimed sourcebook
examines the public and private lives and legal status of Greek and
Roman women. The texts represent women of all social classes, from
public figures remembered for their deeds (or misdeeds), to
priestesses, poets, and intellectuals, to working women, such as
musicians, wet nurses, and prostitutes, to homemakers. The editors
have selected texts from hard-to-find sources, such as
inscriptions, papyri, and medical treatises, many of which have not
previously been translated into English. The resulting compilation
is both an invaluable aid to research and a clear guide through
this complex subject. Building on the third edition's appendix of
updates, the fourth adds many new and unusual texts and images, as
well as such student-friendly features as a map and chapter
overviews. Many notes and explanations have been revised with the
non-classicist in mind.
We are living a moment in which famous chefs, Michelin stars,
culinary techniques, and gastronomical accolades attract moneyed
tourists to Spain from all over the world. This has prompted the
Spanish government to declare its cuisine as part of Spanish
patrimony. Yet even with this widespread global attention, we know
little about how Spanish cooking became a litmus test for
demonstrating Spain's modernity and, in relation, the roles
ascribed to the modern Spanish women responsible for daily cooking.
Efforts to articulate a new, modern Spain infiltrated writing in
multiple genres and media. Women's Work places these efforts in
their historical context to yield a better understanding of the
roles of food within an inherently uneven modernization process.
Further, the book reveals the paradoxical messages women have
navigated, even in texts about a daily practice that shaped their
domestic and work lives. This argument is significant because of
the degree to which domestic activities, including cooking,
occupied women's daily lives, even while issues like their fitness
as citizens and participation in the public sphere were hotly
debated. At the same time, progressive intellectuals from diverse
backgrounds began to invoke Spanish cooking and eating as one
measure of Spanish modernity. Women's Work shows how culinary
writing engaged these debates and reached women at the site of much
of their daily labor-the kitchen-and, in this way, shaped their
thinking about their roles in modernizing Spain.
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