Now your students can pick a date in history and identify notable events and the women associated with that time. Arranged by year, "Women's Chronology" allows students to move through time, exploring significant social, political, economic, cultural and educational milestones in women's history. Brief entries are supplemented with an introductory essay, 120 photos and illlustrations, definitions of unfamiliar terms, extensive cross-references and a cumulative subject index.
Gr 4-8-This set traces the highlights of women's history from 4000 B.C.E. to A.D. 1997. Both volumes have the same introduction, two part timelines (one of women's achievements and the other showing major world events), glossary, and cumulative index. There are plenty of black-and-white photographs, drawings, and paintings. Gray-shaded sidebars add tidbits that are not listed in the chronology itself. The language is clear and unfamiliar terms are explained in the text. The information is presented as a straight chronology, which make the books easier to use than either Kirstin Olsen's Chronology of Women's History (Greenwood, 1994) or James Trager's The Women's Chronology (Holt, 1994). However, there are some minor drawbacks. For example, the entry for Queen Sammuramat (811-807 B.C.) says that she was "known also as the mythical Semiramis," with a reference to another entry, "c. 2200-2101 B.C. Semiramis founded Babylon." Because there is no explanation of Sumerian mythology, readers will have difficulty understanding the reference back to the earlier period and sorting out the historical person from the mythical figure. Otherwise, this is a decent addition for libraries needing quick information about women's history.-Maureen Connelly, New York Public Library
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