Secret Gardens, Satanic Mills offers a comparative history of European girlhood from 1750 to 1960, with a focus on Britain, France, and Germany. It covers diverse issues in the lives of girls, from sexuality and leisure to social roles in the family and the economy. A corrective to historians' traditionally male orientation toward youth, the volume brings girls to the center of European history, emphasizing their importance in European economics and culture. It also identifies cultural and temporal differences within the European experience, particularly with regard to the spaces girls occupied. While the contributors appreciate the importance of systemic and institutional factors in shaping young girls' lives, they are also sensitive to the ways in which girls have been able to resist dominance and create their own destinies.

The contributors are Kathleen Alaimo, Christina Benninghaus, Pamela Cox, Clare Crowston, Anna Davin, Andreas Gestrich, Céline Grasser, Irene Hardach-Pinke, Elizabeth Bright Jones, Clair Langhamer, Mary Jo Maynes, Carol E. Morgan, Tammy M. Proctor, Rebecca Rogers, Karin Schmidlechner, Deborah Simonton, Birgitte Søland, and Mary Lynn Stewart.

Mary Jo Maynes' profile page

Birgitte Søland's profile page

Christina Benninghaus' profile page

Katherine Alaimo's profile page

Clare Crowston's profile page

Pamela Cox's profile page

Ann Davin's profile page

Andreas Gestrich's profile page

Céline Grasser's profile page

Irene Hardach's profile page

Elizabeth Bright Jones' profile page

Claire Langhamer's profile page

Carol E. Morgan's profile page

Tammy M. Proctor's profile page

Rebecca Rogers' profile page

Karin M. Schmidlechner's profile page

Deborah Simonton's profile page

Mary Lynn Stewart is a professor and chair of women's studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. She is the author of For Health and Beauty: Physical Culture for Frenchwomen, 1880s–1930s and coauthor of Gender and the Politics of Social Reform in France, 1870–1914, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Mary Lynn Stewart's profile page

These papers on a wide range of subjects concerning 18th- to 20th-century European young womanhood underscore the distinctive role young girls played in the economic, social, cultural, and political life of their respective countries. The articles prove conclusively that for the overwhelming majority of young European women, work outside the home was a reality. The book's most important feature is the broad overview of the ways in which European societies shaped girls through laws, schools, apprenticeships, sermons, and advice. The articles are divided into four parts. The first examines the experiences of lower-class girls in the working world. The second section discusses middle- and upper-class girls who, though not expected to work outside the home, were relentlessly groomed in order to achieve a proper marriage. The third group of articles illustrates how the increasing importance of scientific study in the late, 19th and early, 20th centuries defined young women by their bodies. The final section shows how work and leisure changed for young women of all classes throughout the late 19th century and into the modern era. An important addition to any discussion of European women. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.January 2006

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