A Cultural History of Twin Beds challenges our most ingrained assumptions about intimacy, sexuality, domesticity and hygiene by tracing the rise and fall of twin beds as a popular sleeping arrangement for married couples between 1870 and 1970. Modern preconceptions of the twin bed revolve around their use by couples who have no desire to sleep in the same bed space. Yet, for the best part of a century, twin beds were not only seen as acceptable but were championed as the sign of a modern and forward-thinking couple. But what lay behind this innovation? And why did so many married couples ultimately abandon the twin bed?In this book, Hilary Hinds presents a fascinating insight into the combination of beliefs and practices that made twin beds an ideal sleeping solution. Using nuanced close readings of marriage guidance and medical advice books, furnishing catalogues, novels, films and newspapers, this volume offers an accessible and rigorous account of the curious history of twin beds. This is vital reading for those with an interest in cultural history, sociology, anthropology and psychology.

During a period when writing was often the only form of self-expression for women, Her Own Life contains extracts from the autobiographical texts of twelve seventeenth-century women addressing a wide range of issues central to their lives.

Ten non-Shakespearean Renaissance plays and a masque have been brought together for the first time in what is a major text for students of English drama of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The Renaissance saw a dramatic explosion of such force that, four hundred years later, its plays are amongst the most frequently performed and studied we have. This anthology offers a full introduction to Renaissance theatre in its historical and political context, along with newly edited and brilliantly annotated texts of the following plays:
* The Spanish Tragedy (Thomas Kyd)
* Arden of Faversham (Anon.)
* Edward II (Christopher Marlowe)
* A Woman Killed with Kindness (Thomas Heywood)
* The Tragedy of Mariam (Elizabeth Cary)
* The Masque of Blackness (Ben Jonson)
* The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Francis Beaumont)
* Epicoene, or the Silent Woman (Ben Jonson)
* The Roaring Girl (Thomas Middleton & Thomas Dekker)
* The Changeling (Thomas Middleton & William Rowley)
* 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (John Ford)
Each play is prefaced by an introductory headnote discussing the thematic focus of the play and its textual history, and is cross-referenced to other plays of the period that relate thematically and generically.
An accompanying website contains a wide selection of contextual documents which supplement the anthology: www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415187346

Related link: www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415187346

Ten non-Shakespearean Renaissance plays and a masque have been brought together for the first time in what is a major text for students of English drama of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The Renaissance saw a dramatic explosion of such force that, four hundred years later, its plays are amongst the most frequently performed and studied we have. This anthology offers a full introduction to Renaissance theatre in its historical and political context, along with newly edited and brilliantly annotated texts of the following plays:
* The Spanish Tragedy (Thomas Kyd)
* Arden of Faversham (Anon.)
* Edward II (Christopher Marlowe)
* A Woman Killed with Kindness (Thomas Heywood)
* The Tragedy of Mariam (Elizabeth Cary)
* The Masque of Blackness (Ben Jonson)
* The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Francis Beaumont)
* Epicoene, or the Silent Woman (Ben Jonson)
* The Roaring Girl (Thomas Middleton & Thomas Dekker)
* The Changeling (Thomas Middleton & William Rowley)
* 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (John Ford)
Each play is prefaced by an introductory headnote discussing the thematic focus of the play and its textual history, and is cross-referenced to other plays of the period that relate thematically and generically.
An accompanying website contains a wide selection of contextual documents which supplement the anthology: www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415187346

Related link: www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415187346

Addressing issues of long-standing concern, but from new perspectives, this book contributes to existing key debates about sexuality, paid work, the development process, equal opportunities legislation, lesbian history and women's writing. Extending beyond disciplinary boundaries many of the contributions address issues such as the politics and practice of women's studies, and the specificity of women's oppression within particular national and international contexts. Theoretical, epistemological and methodological questions are analyzed from a variety of perspectives which frequently defy existing categorizations. Moving beyond the previous positions of Marxist, radical or liberal feminism many contributions challenge the boundaries of existing debates and set new agendas for the future. Whilst recognizing the achievements of women's studies, this collection contributes to the continuing process of critical self-reflection.

Addressing issues of long-standing concern, but from new perspectives, this book contributes to existing key debates about sexuality, paid work, the development process, equal opportunities legislation, lesbian history and women's writing. Extending beyond disciplinary boundaries many of the contributions address issues such as the politics and practice of women's studies, and the specificity of women's oppression within particular national and international contexts. Theoretical, epistemological and methodological questions are analyzed from a variety of perspectives which frequently defy existing categorizations. Moving beyond the previous positions of Marxist, radical or liberal feminism many contributions challenge the boundaries of existing debates and set new agendas for the future. Whilst recognizing the achievements of women's studies, this collection contributes to the continuing process of critical self-reflection.

During a period when writing was often the only form of self-expression for women, Her Own Life contains extracts from the autobiographical texts of twelve seventeenth-century women addressing a wide range of issues central to their lives.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203358961

A Cultural History of Twin Beds challenges our most ingrained assumptions about intimacy, sexuality, domesticity and hygiene by tracing the rise and fall of twin beds as a popular sleeping arrangement for married couples between 1870 and 1970. Modern preconceptions of the twin bed revolve around their use by couples who have no desire to sleep in the same bed space. Yet, for the best part of a century, twin beds were not only seen as acceptable but were championed as the sign of a modern and forward-thinking couple. But what lay behind this innovation? And why did so many married couples ultimately abandon the twin bed?In this book, Hilary Hinds presents a fascinating insight into the combination of beliefs and practices that made twin beds an ideal sleeping solution. Using nuanced close readings of marriage guidance and medical advice books, furnishing catalogues, novels, films and newspapers, this volume offers an accessible and rigorous account of the curious history of twin beds. This is vital reading for those with an interest in cultural history, sociology, anthropology and psychology.

What was distinctive about the founding principles and practices of Quakerism? In George Fox and Early Quaker Culture, Hilary Hinds explores how the Light Within became the organizing principle of this seventeenth-century movement, inaugurating an influential dissolution of the boundary between the human and the divine. Taking an original perspective on this most enduring of radical religious groups, Hinds combines literary and historical approaches to produce a fresh study of Quaker cultural practice. Close readings of Fox's Journal are put in dialogue with the voices of other early Friends and their critics to argue that the Light Within set the terms for the unique Quaker mode of embodying spirituality and inhabiting the world. In this important study of the cultural consequences of a bedrock belief, Hinds shows how the Quaker spiritual self was premised on a profound continuity between sinful subjects and godly omnipotence. This study will be of interest not only to scholars and students of seventeenth-century literature and history, but also to those concerned with the Quaker movement, spirituality and the changing meanings of religious practice in the early modern period. -- .

In 1654, Anna Trapnel -- a Baptist, Fifth Monarchist, millenarian, and visionary from London -- fell into a trance during which she prophesied passionately and at length against Oliver Cromwell and his government. The prophecies attracted widespread public attention, and resulted in an invitation to travel to Cornwall. Her Report and Plea, republished here for the first time, is a lively and engaging firsthand account of the visit, which concluded in her arrest, a court hearing, and imprisonment. Part memoir, part travelogue, and part impassioned defense of her beliefs and actions, the Report and Plea offers vivid and fascinating insight into the life and times of an early modern woman claiming her place at the center of the tumultuous political events of mid-seventeenth-century England.