‘Since time immemorial, reading has been deemed subversive, disruptive, or threatening to the stability of a relationship, a community, even a nation or a worldwide Church. Momentous episodes of censorship and book-burnings span human history. The specific control of women’s reading has often been more private and subtle but motivated by similar convictions about the potentially dangerous influence of reading. Certain kinds of reading material can spark and fuel dissent and revolution, whether small-scale and domestic, or large-scale and political.’ (From Belinda Jack's introduction).

Yale University Press | Hardback 336 pp. |ISBN: 9780300120455