Telling Tales

Women played a vital role in the shaping of the west between the 1880s and 1940s. Yet surprisingly little is known about their contributions or the differences sex and gender made to the opportunities and obstacles women encountered. Telling Tales covers a range of topics--African-American settlement on Vancouver Island, prairie childbirth narratives, and Mennonites as domestic servants are but three examples--while addressing the themes of colonization, settlement, and community-building. Essays focus on women from both minority and dominant cultures and reflect the West's characteristically mixed population.