This is one of a series of bibliographical guides designed to meet the needs of undergraduates, postgraduates and their teachers in universities and colleges of further education. All volumes in the series share a number of common characteristics. They are selective, manageable in size, and include those books and articles which are considered most important and useful. All are editied by practising teachers of the subject in question and are based on their experience of the needs of students. The arrangement combines chronological with thematic divisions. Most of the items listed receive some descriptive comment.

In 1615 Englishman Gervase Markham published a handbook for housewives that contains "all the virtuous knowledges and actions both of the mind and body, which ought to be in any complete housewife". Markham instructs and advises on everything from the plague to baldness and bad breath. Woodcut illustrations add a richness to this look at life during the Renaissance.

This book analyzes the political, aesthetic, moral and religious developments in the period 1606-1660 and discusses the works of Donne, Jonson, Milton and early modern women's writing. Brady combines Literary Theory, social and cultural History, Psychology and Anthropology to produce exciting and original readings of neglected source material.