Review of Christine Meek, ed., \u3ci\u3eWomen in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe\u3c/i\u3e

This collection of essays has many very fine pieces, but there is really no coherent theme that ties them together. While i; is about women in the Renaissancea nd early modern Europe (Meek covers her bases by using both terms), the essays are very specialized. They do not provide the wide coverage of material that the title implies and the title would never suggest the specifics in the book. Rather, as a collection that grew out of a conference held at Trinity College Dublin in 1998, some of the essays connect with each other, while others are of very different genres and approaches. Several of the essays deal with representations of women in art and literature. Both witchcraft and religious lives of women are also considered in several essays. Geographically, most of the essays are centered in France, Italy, or Ireland