British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670-1820

"Devoney Looser's book is important. It establishes the historical consciousness at the core of the achievements of a group of notable women writers over a period of a century and a half . . . This book achieves its goal of bringing to our attention a series of meritorious writers and texts that exemplify the important place occupied by women in the intellectual life of eighteenth-century England."—Everett Zimmerman, Eighteenth-Century Fiction

"An excellent pioneering study of women's contribution to historiography in the long eighteenth century . . . Looser's work opens up several potential theses and books on historiography by women by drawing attention to the sheer range of possibilities of engagement with history as a form of writing."—Modern Language Review

"Taken together, Looser's seven chapters make a persuasive case for locating women's authorship in a broader field of writing than usual."—Deidre Lynch, Modern Language Quarterly

"This is a highly intelligent book . . . Looser's arguments are stepped in the current scholarship on each of these women, and she is a generous scholar who always gives credit where it is due . . . she will have you thinking about [genre] as you never have before."—Melinda S. Zook, H-Albion, H-Net Reviews

"British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670-1820, is an original, ambitious, and exciting book. No study like it currently exists, and the subject is one that has needed to be addressed for some time. Looser covers her topic with impressive scope and detail, ably deploying biographical background, reception theory, and close readings of the works themselves to evaluate the writers."—Martine Watson Brownley, Emory University