Sample from Table of Contents: Overture; Part 1: Women Who Became Soldiers and Sailors; Part II: The Town; Women in Trade: Skilled and Unskilled Workers; The Professions; Actresses: Mary "Moll" Davis (1651?-1708); Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn (1651?-1687); Charlotte Charke (1713-1760); Part III: The Arts; Music; Maria Hester Park nee Reynolds (1760-1813); Mrs. Philharmonica; Mary Dering (1629-1740); Painting and Sculpture; Mary Beale (1632-1699); Mary Moser (1742-1819); Mary Cosway nee Hadfield (1760- 1 83 8); Anne Seymour Damer nee Conway (1749-1828); Poetry; Anne Finch Countess of Winchelsea (1661-1720); Mary Leapor (1722-46); Prose; Laetitia Pilkington (ca. 1709-1750); Mrs Delariviere Manley (ca. 1670-1724); Aphra Behn (1640-1689); Part IV: The Court Callisto, A Restoration Fable; And More.

About the Author

Dr. Netta Murray Goldsmith received her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. She taught at the University of Missouri and his worked for the BBC and the British Council on the Continent. 1660 saw many women escape the home in which social convention confined them. The growth of London meant that they could find work in the city in a variety of occupations, in trade, the professions and the Arts. A sizeable number of widows had control of money they had inherited from their husbands and used it to run a business, or if they had a house, could increase their income as landladies. The Restoration of Charles II to the throne brought with it greater sexual freedom which some women determined to enjoy, away from the censorious criticism they would have faced if they had lived in a rural village.

Reviews

From the Author: "For about a hundred years after Charles II reclaimed the throne in 1660 more women than ever before strove to live as independently as men did. . . the most spectacular bid for freedom was made by girls who became soldiers and sailors. . . another factor which enabled a women to earn money and gain a measure of liberty and independence was the growth of London. . . The Restoration saw the beginning of the movement to establish sexual equality."