"This is altogether a most worthwhile book, a fine example of agrowing genre of African literature... " --Choice

"Mirza and Strobel let these women speak about theirlives in their own words, and the results are wonderful.... This is an excellentbook with which to introduce students both to Africa and to life histories... "-- American Historical Review

This exploration of the lives ofthree Mombasa women reveals the complexity of Swahili society -- its ethnicdiversity, the impact of slavery, and the varied reactions to colonialism andWestern culture. They illustrate the rich interactions within the women's community, focused on family and festive or ritual occasions.

"[Western Women and Imperialism] provides fascinating insights intointeractions and attitudes between western and non-western women, mainly in the 19thand early 20th centuries. It is an important contribution to the field of women'sstudies and (primarily British) imperial history, in that many of the essays exploreproblems of cross-cultural interaction that have been heretofore ignored." --Nancy Fix Anderson

"A challenging anthology in which amultiplicity of authors sheds new light on the waves of missionaries, 'memsahibs, 'nurses -- and feminists." -- Ms.

..". a long-overdueengagement with colonial discourse and feminism.... excellent essays..." -- TheYear's Work in Critical Cultural Theory

"It enhances our understanding of intracultural and cross-cultural relationships and raises significant questions about the complexities of the colonial phenomenon in the modern era." Journal of World History

"Provides a powerful and important analysis foregrounding the ideological construction of whiteness in understandings of gender and sexuality.... Margaret Strobel manages to provide a convincing analysis of the contradictory and often challenging space occupied by European women in the project of empire." Signs

"Strobel is to be highly commended for an historical analysis that brings critical light to bear on the complex interactions of gender, race, and class that have shadowed both European men s and women s participation in colonialism." Women and Politics

..". a clear exposition and synthesis... In this useful introduction to a new field, Strobel lays out clearly the arguments on which it is built. Her book makes it possible to acquaint students with the initial array of scholarship that is already growing. She also demonstrates that rewriting an imperial history that is sensitive to gender, culture, race, sexuality, and power is an exhilarating enterprise." American Historical Review

Based on the published accounts of travelers and officials' wives, biographies and other materials, this is a lively, fast-paced account of the roles of white women in the British empire, from about 1880 to the recent past. The European women of the second British empire carved out a space for themselves amid the options made available to them by British expansion, but they too were treated as inferiors the inferior sex within the superior race."