Contents:
1. Feminism and Patriarchy: An Introduction 2. From Jesus to Joan of Arc 3. The Impact of the Renaissance: Women, Learning and the Creative Arts 4. Religion, Politics, and Literature in Early Modern Europe 5. Revolution in Philosophy and Politics 6. Radicals and Reformers 7. The Beginnings of First-Wave Feminism 8. Issues in First-Wave Feminism 9. Wartime and Inter-war Feminism 10. The Origins of the Second Wave Conclusion. Index.

Marlene LeGates has written a thorough, lively and accessible overview of Western feminist movements from the Middle Ages through to the latter twentieth century. With each chapter containing a timeline and brief excerpts from primary source documents, the text serve as an ideal basis for a history of feminism or women's studies course, or as a supplementary text in a broader women's history or western civilization course.
LeGates addresses such topics as:
* sexual morality and the role of female visionaries in early Christian society
* women's roles in utopian movements
* revolutions in the early modern period
* suffrage and the second wave in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The geographical scope of the book is also unique; it includes material on feminism from continental Europe, Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Latin America.