Preparing for discussion of

Anderson & Zinsser, A History of Their Own, 1:353-444

While everyone will read the whole assignment, you'll each have one chapter, and one section within a chapter, which you will be responsible for presenting to the class.

For your assigned chapter:

What do you think the authors would most like us to understand about the subject identified in the title of the chapter?

What significant commonalities do you find in the lives of women today and the lives of women in the period described in this chapter?

What significant differences?

Is there anything that especially surprised you to find out?

What remains confusing or puzzling to you?

For your assigned section:

What do you think the authors would most like us to understand about the subject of this section?

What sorts of evidence do the authors bring forward to support these points?

Mark out one or two specific examples used in support of one or another point that you found of particular interest. Be ready to tell about the example, explain what point it demonstrates, and why you found this one interesting.

The Townswoman's Daily Life: The Twelfth to the Seventeenth Centuries (353-77)

Alleyways, Streets, and Squares (353-57)

The Poor (358-67)

Guildswomen (367-73)

Merchants' Wives (373-77)

Dangers and Remedies (378-91)

Natural Disasters and Wars (378-81)

Disease and Childbearing (381-85)

Faith in God, Repentance, and the Saints (385-87)

Prayers to the Virgin Mary (387-91)

The World of Commerical Capitalism: The Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries (392-430)

Protected and Provided For (392-94)

The Business of Marriage and Charity (394-406)

Old Crafts (406-12)

New Professions (412-24)

Capitalist Entrepreneurs (424-30)

The Invisible and Visible Bonds of Misogyny (431-444)

Old Tales Retold (431-33)

Sumptuary and Adultery Laws (433-36)

Abuse of Women: Violence and Ridicule (436-40)

The Ideal Marriage and the Perfect Wife (440-44)