Between Pit and Pedestal: Women in the Middle Ages

by Marty Newman Williams, Anne Echols

"Crusader and concubine, laundress and troubadour, mystic and midwife and miniaturist, beguine and bondwoman and the bersatrix rocking the cradle of kings- all find their rightful place in this bountiful compendium. With vast resourcefulness and a lively (and often irreverent) eye for the creaturely real, the authors make it impossible to sustain any last lingering illusions about the Middle Ages being 'a man's world.' "-John Bugge, Emory University

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism

301 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1989

Reviews

[Floor tussendeboeken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for the most part, some parts were less interesting as I had the knowledge about those things already. Besides that, it is quite academic so beware of that :)

[Monica Bond-Lamberty · Rating 3 out of 5]

While most of the information was not new to me, it was still informative and detailed.
Two quibbles - the listing (sometimes ad nauseum) of examples of situations women found themselves in the middle ages did not always make for good reading. A few examples stood out, but even organized into related topics (e.g. rulers, artists, doctors, etc.) it made the reading of it tedious at times.
Another point is that there was name dropping at times that was not fully explained, almost seeming like one chapter was originally before another chapter mentioning, a printer only after having name checked him earlier.
While some might like some of the examples presented, it did not seem to present terribly new informaiton for the most part.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still not sure exactly why decided to read this one, but it was very informative
A pretty sad pattern in history - women find a way to make their life slightly better, women get very good at a certain craft, men come in and outright BAN women from performing said craft as a way to make a legit living
Rinse, repeat. Remember kids, always repeat

Every other chapter begs the question, "Why did women even bother living ... or didn't just all ban together and move to start their own country. No boys allowed!"

[Heather Forensky · Rating 5 out of 5]

"These indicators must continue to remind us that men's attitudes and women's problems have not always changed a great deal since the Middle Ages" -from Epilogue of this book. Ain't that the fucking truth! I believe in equality, but if someone decides that just because I have different body parts they should dictate what I must do, then surely they don't know that we can do just as good if not better than them.