Larger	The Book of the City of Ladies Author: Christine De Pizan
	Book Information Publisher: Persea Books Book Type: Paperback Members Wishing: 0 Rating: 2 ISBN-13: 9780892552306 - ISBN-10: 0892552301 Publication Date: 9/1998 Pages: 352

From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister

The Book of the City of Ladies should be included on any comprehensive reading list, if only on the basis of historical interest. Christine de Pizan is known as the first woman to earn her living by writing; left a widow at twenty-five with three children and no inheritance she saw it as one of her few options. She is more than an historical curiosity, however; her books are literate, feminist, and thought-provoking and cover a wide range of topics. The Book of the City of Ladies is a defense of women that strikes home even in the twentieth century. Using the narrative device of a dialogue between the author and several allegorical figures, the narrator first digs her foundation for a city by defending women against the allegations of lack of intelligence, virtue, strength, and bravery, then builds her walls with an astonishing number of examples of women who disprove all popular misconceptions. Readers whose primary aim is to find out about women figures from the past might prefer the twentieth century style of recent women's history books; the repetitive style of The Book of the City of Ladies can become wearing. On the other hand, there is a thrill in reaching across almost 600 years to Christine de Pizan, who writes about issues we still argue about today and who introduces us to women we never knew existed.