Becoming a Woman: And Other Essays in 19th and 20th Century Feminist History

Spanning two decades of research and writing, this volume presents the influential and insightful work of Sally Alexander, one of Britain's most reputed feminist historians.

Whether analyzing women's factory work, the emergence of the Victorian women's movement, or women's voices during the Spanish civil war, or charting the lives of women in the inter-war years, Alexander's accounts are original and thoughtful. Moving from a discussion of class and sexual difference to a reading of subjectivity informed by psychoanalysis, Alexander exposes the relationship between memory, history, and the unconscious. Her focus ranges from a descriptive rendering of the 1970's Nightcleaners campaign to a more exploratory account of becoming a woman in 1920's and 30's London.

"Becoming A Woman" offers up a fascinating exploration of important historical moments and of the process of writing feminist history.