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This volume consists of new translations of twenty-six representative selections from the belle epoque, the period of cultural efflorescence in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France. These pieces have a remarkably modern sound; the anger of Nelly Roussel, the arguments for reproductive freedom, and the case histories of prostitutes transcend time and circumstance.

Chosen from newspapers, speeches, novels, political tracts, and the like, these selections portray the range of feminist response to the prevailing social situation of women-from the generally meliorist position of the Christian feminists to the radical stances of socialist and utopian feminists. The works of authors well known at the turn of the century are interspersed with stories of the lives of some of society's victims. The selections are organized thematically: education, work, prostitution and the double standard, marriage and male-female relations, maternity, and political and civil rights. In the volume introduction and in introductions to each selection, the editors place the pieces within their historical and social settings.