The Weaker Vessel

by Antonia Fraser

Book Overview

"An almost encyclopedic chronicle of women in 17th century England...wives, warriors, heiresses, preachers... alive with anecdote after anecdote." - New York Times Book Review This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394513517
• ISBN13: 9780394513515
• Release Date: August 1984
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Must Read for Women

Excellent. I wish there were more books that give such detail and are so readable and articulate. I have enjoyed many of Antonia Fraser's books and this is one of my favorites. I recommend it to friends often.

We need more history books like this!

This is exactly the kind of women's history book that we need. Fraser's writing style is perfect for her subject, the lives of women in 17th-century England. She covers various aspects of women's lives: Political, domestic, social, professional, spiritual. We meet many remarkable women, such as Rachel, Lady Russell, who fought hard to save her husband William from execution; Catherine Sedley, the witty and strong-minded mistress of James II; Elizabeth Barry, beloved actress. Fraser includes all sorts of trivia without detracting from her main theme, an accomplishment in itself. Will she write more books like this? I hope so.

A worth reading

A very good book, well written and very interesting. It provides the reader with information about Seventeenth Century women from every class, noble and peasants alike. Every girl should read it. It will give them much more self-consciousness than 30 feminist treatises!

Good book

It relates to the women in 17th Century England and the times they endured, torn down by the "stereotypical" views of what women of today think. Women of the 17th Century carried a role within the society in which they were able to stand up, to be a woman. They were able to lift their heads despite what the men had said of the time period. Women were able to gain custody of their children, marry the man they love and become much more of a customary woman that what had been perceived. Antonia Fraser's historically written book justifies the idea that women truly played a role within the society that was not forfeited. The question she had asked, "were there women in the 17th century?" Yes, yes there were, and Antonia Fraser proved it. Historically, in a fictional manner in a non-fiction piece.