The Weaker Vessel

by Antonia Fraser

Hardcover, 1984

Status

Available

Publication

Knopf (1984), Edition: 1st American ed, 544 pages

Description

"Women in 17th-century England--heiresses and dairymaids, holy women and prostitutes, criminals and educators, widows and witches, midwives and mothers, heroines, courtesans, prophetesses, businesswomen, ladies of the court, and that new breed, the actress."

Rating

½ (118 ratings; 3.9)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Schmerguls
5654. The Weaker Vessel, by Antonia Fraser (read 19 Oct 2019) This is the ninth book by Fraser I have read and is, I think, the least interesting and one I slogged through without often finding it interesting. It is essentially a history of women in the 17th century in Britain, She does a good job
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of showing how few rights women had in that benighted time, but the book jumps around a lot and tells of specific women--most of whom are unknown except maybe to a specialist in 17th English history. And the legal position of English women in the 17th century improved little if at all during the century. This non-improvement cannot be blamed on the women but is due to the failure of men to see how unfair and stupid it was to have women have so few rights and to be so dominated by the male. There are things of interest in the book but also much dry material
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LibraryThing member mahallett
not very interesting. stories about women I have never heard of. and so long.

Awards

Wolfson History Prize (Shortlist — 1984)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1984

ISBN

0394513517 / 9780394513515
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