This innovative text explores the unprecedented changes in the realms of politics, demography, economics, culture, knowledge, and kinship that women have brought about in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Global in reach, the book provides a comparative analysis of developments worldwide to show both progress as well as new tensions and forms of inequality that have emerged out of women’s entry into politics, wage employment, education, and the production of culture. Beginning with suffrage and moving to participation in international movements—such as anti-war, labor, and environmental rights activism—Maria Bucur explores how women have transformed the operation of states and international institutions. She focuses on the radical demographic shifts since 1900 through the prism of changing practices in women’s sexuality, from birth control practices to education. Examining the continuing economic gender gap around the world, Bucur highlights ways women have been both beneficiaries of new economic opportunities and participants in developing new forms of inequality. Considering the remarkable achievements of women in the areas of knowledge making and cultural production, the author shifts her gaze toward the future and what these changes mean in terms of gender norms and evolving kinship relations. She thus presents a new perspective on contemporary world history, centered on how women have become both the subjects and objects of seismic shifts in the political, social, and economic structures of societies across the globe.

A remarkable, one-of-a-kind collection. Filled with insight, anecdotes, and fascinating snapshots from the past, ONE WOMAN'S CENTURY is a celebration of the life and work of iconic Saskatchewan author Kay Parley, covering the full scope of her work from 1938 all the way to 2024. That’s 86 years of her writing! At the age of 101, Kay is still going strong, with a regular column in Folklore Magazine and the Wolseley Bulletin. She is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Inside the Mental: Silence, Stigma, Psychiatry, and LSD about her time at the Weyburn Mental Institute in the 1950s, first as a patient, and then as a psychiatric nurse, and of the magical novel The Grass People about a world tucked out of sight beneath the leafy plants and tall grass we walk by every day, as well as the dark mystery The Monkey Vault. In 2019, Kay Parley was the subject of an award winning documentary, A Mind of Her Own, by filmmaker Judith Silverthorne. A talented painter, educator, and author, Kay worked with Lorne Greene at CBC Radio and taught sociology for many years at the Kelsey Institute in Saskatoon. ONE WOMAN’S CENTURY is the first comprehensive collection of her work, spanning the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression to the climate change of today. Timely, heart-felt and endlessly fascinating.

Maria Sibylla Merian, a German painter and naturalist, produced an innovative work on tropical insects based on lore she gathered from the Carib, Arawak, and African women of Suriname.

The Ziegfeld Follies, Florenz Ziegfeld's stage spectaculars, promised the best performers, the most lavish sets, and the most ravishing girls. Doris Eaton Travis was one of these prized beauties–and, at 14, was chosen as the youngest chorus girl in the Follies. "Mine eyes are yet dim with the luminous beauty of a girl named Doris," one Chicago reviewer wrote. Doris Eaton Travis was the last living Ziegfeld girl. In her 106 years, she performed for presidents and princesses, entertained Gershwin, Lindbergh, and Astaire, starred in silent and talking pictures, bantered with Babe Ruth, offended Henry Ford, outlived six siblings, written a newspaper column, hosted a television show, earned a Phi Beta Kappa degree in history, raised turkeys, and raced horses. In 2010, she performed on Broadway, returned home to Detroit and two weeks later peacefully passed away. Century Girl is a visual tour of this extraordinary woman's journey through life.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Tessa Dunlop made pains to select women from broad walks of life and succeeds in weaving a rich tapestry of experiences.'The Independent ‘A warm-hearted and engaging read, The Century Girls is replete with wonderful characters.’ Sunday Express 'Dunlop has pulled off an impressive feat of oral history...creating a moving portrait of a world that is now lost forever.' Who Do You Think You Are?? A celebration of the one-hundred years since British women got the vote, told, in their own voices, by six centenarians: Helena, Olive, Edna, Joyce, Ann and Phyllis – The Century Girls? In 2018 Britain celebrates the centenary of some women getting the vote. The intervening ten decades have witnessed staggering change, and The Century Girls features six women born in 1918 or before who haven’t just witnessed that change, they’ve lived it. Empire shrank, war came and went, and modern society demanded continual readjustment.... the Century Girls lasted the course, and this book weaves together their lifetime’s adventures – what they were taught, how they were treated, who they loved, what they did and where they are now. With stories that are intimately knitted into the history of the British Isles, this is a time-travel epic featuring our oldest, most precious national treasures. Edna, 102, was a domestic servant born in Lincolnshire. Helena is 101 years old and the eldest of eight born into a Welsh farming family. Olive, 102, began life as a child of empire in British Guiana and was one of the first women to migrate to London after the war. There’s Ann, a 103-year-London bohemian; 100-year-old Phyllis, daughter of the British Raj, who has called Edinburgh home for nearly eighty years; and finally ‘young’ Joyce – a 99-year-old Cambridge classicist who’s still at work. It is through the prism of these women’s very long lives that The Century Girls provides a deeply personal account of British history over the past one hundred years. Their story is our story too. Further praise for The Century Girls 'It features among others my teacher and mate, 99 year old Joyce Reynolds, going super strong and still a stern and helpful critic.' Mary Beard 'A delightful book . . . all about women and women's lives.' Jane Garvey, Radio 4 Woman's Hour? 'A highly personal insight into British society over the past century...revealing and enlightening stories which would otherwise have been lost.' The Scotsman ‘A deeply personal and moving account of the last 100 years of British history.’ The Bookseller 'It’s a brilliant book… It’s fantastic!' Chris Evans, Radio 2 Breakfast Show ‘A wonderful blend of British history with individual stories – and for any reader under about 90, an often startling reminder of how much things have changed.’ Reader’s Digest? ‘What better way to mark the centenary of some British women getting the vote than to read about inspirational women who witness revolutionary changes? Six centenarians reminisce on their incredible century. A history lesson to savour.’ The Lady