First published in 1503 in Lyons, Symphorien Champier's The Ship of Virtuous Ladies helped launch the French Renaissance version of the querelle des femmes, the debate over the nature and status of women. The three books included in this edition include arguments for gender equality, and a catalogue of virtuous women modeled on Boccaccio's Famous Women and Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend. Titled "The Book of True Love," book 4 is especially important in gender history, importing and transforming the male-centered Neoplatonic philosophy of Marsilio Ficino for pro-woman ends.

A “vivid, unsentimental, powerful” portrait of a Southern marriage by the New York Times–bestselling author of Ellen Foster (Publishers Weekly). “She hasn’t been dead four months and I’ve already eaten to the bottom of the deep freeze. I even ate the green peas. Used to I wouldn’t turn my hand over for green peas . . .” Ruby Stokes has died too young and left her husband, Blinking Jack, behind. With alternating entries from each of them, A Virtuous Woman recounts the tale of their years together in an “exquisitely realised piece of writing” (Elizabeth Buchan, The Mail on Sunday). From their very different backgrounds—Ruby a daughter of wealth, Jack a penniless tenant farmer—to their relationships with their landlord and his family, and the strength they drew from each other in the face of hardship, this story of a marriage is “full of fantastically gritty metaphors . . . A book that will change your dreams” (The Observer). “Gibbons again flawlessly reproduces the humor and idiom of rural eastern North Carolina.” —Library Journal

Originally published in 1529, the Declamation on the Preeminence and Nobility of the Female Sex argues that women are more than equal to men in all things that really matter, including the public spheres from which they had long been excluded. Rather than directly refuting prevailing wisdom, Agrippa uses women's superiority as a rhetorical device and overturns the misogynistic interpretations of the female body in Greek medicine, in the Bible, in Roman and canon law, in theology and moral philosophy, and in politics. He raised the question of why women were excluded and provided answers based not on sex but on social conditioning, education, and the prejudices of their more powerful oppressors. His declamation, disseminated through the printing press, illustrated the power of that new medium, soon to be used to generate a larger reformation of religion.

Popular women's Bible study author Stacy Mitch followed the first book of her Courageous series, Courageous Love, with a book on the virtues, Courageous Virtue: A Bible Study on Moral Excellence for Women. Stacy Mitch's Bible study explores how virtue can help women in their daily walks with the Lord and in everyday life. She focuses on the cardinal virtues (fortitude, temperance, justice, and prudence) and the theological virtues (faith, hope, and love). As with her last book, Courageous Virtue is filled with scriptural teaching and the words of the saints, carefully laying a path to the virtues for all readers. Stacy's insightful study questions lead readers to carefully examine their lives in light of the virtues, and the book includes a leader's guide for group Bible studies. About the Series: Intended for individual or group study, our Courageous series examines the teaching of Sacred Scripture on women and the feminine pursuit of holiness for women of all ages and walks of life. Each book includes a leader's guide and study questions to help promote and direct discussion.

Contemporary critiques of sexuality have their origins in the work of Michel Foucault. While Foucault's seminal arguments helped to establish the foundations of queer theory and greatly advance feminist critique, Lynne Huffer argues that our interpretation of the theorist's powerful ideas remains flawed.

Sugar and spice and everything nice—that's what little girls are made of...and so much more! In her first children's book, bestselling author Elizabeth George draws from the wisdom of the book of Proverbs to encourage young girls to apply the positive traits and qualities illustrated in each verse. Judy Luenebrink's charming illustrations complement the text, which emphasizes that there is more to being a girl than simply being sweet and nice. God desires for them to be helpful, confident, thoughtful, eager, prayerful, creative, cheerful, and kind—one of His little girls! A wonderful read-aloud book and perfect gift for parents or grandparents to give to their favorite little girl!

LET THERE BE VIRTUES Let there be virtues is a book that gives young African American adolescent girls some good ideas about the facts that they are growing and maturing into young ladies and there are expectation and rules of life that they must follow to be honest, have good morals, spiritual understanding, practice having and using good manners. You must have everyday etiquette, social skills, civility skills, good personal hygiene, positive personal appearance, communication skills and table manners. All of these positive words that you read in this book can help you develop positive self-esteem and positive self-confidence. Bernetta Watson

In the sixteenth century, a period of proliferating transatlantic travel and exploration, and, latterly, religious civil wars in France, the ship is freighted with political and religious, as well as poetic, significance; symbolism that reaches its height when ships—both real and symbolic—are threatened with disaster. The Direful Spectacle argues that, in the French Renaissance, shipwreck functions not only as an emblem or motif within writing, but as a part, or the whole, of a narrative, in which the dynamics of spectatorship and of co-operation are of constant concern. The possibility of ethical distance from shipwreck—imagined through the Lucretian suave mari magno commonplace—is constantly undermined, not least through a sustained focus on the corporeal. This book examines the ways in which the ship and the body are made analogous in Renaissance shipwreck writing; bodies are described and allegorized in nautical terms, and, conversely, ships themselves become animalized and humanized. Secondly, many texts anticipate that the description of shipwreck will have an affect not only on its victims, but on those too of spectators, listeners, and readers. This insistence on the physicality of shipwreck is also reflected in the dynamic of bricolage that informs the production of shipwreck texts in the Renaissance. The dramatic potential of both the disaster and the process of rebuilding is exploited throughout the century, culminating in a shipwreck tragedy. By the late Renaissance, shipwreck is not only the end, but often forms the beginning of a story.

FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF PRAYERS THAT ROUT DEMONS Influence and power are not just for men. The fight was never intended to be man vs. woman. Both men and women are strong and mighty in the Lord. Chayil is a Hebrew word that is connected to strength, wealth, power, influence, wisdom, and military might, and it happens to be the word translated "virtuous" in Proverbs 31. Since the beginning of time chayil, or "virtuous," women have been created to fight for and defend their homes, families, and other kingdom entities against evil influences. Chayil women have been empowered to organize and activate those under their authority so that everything to which they are assigned runs smoothly and with excellence. A chayil woman is strong, mighty, and efficient; valiant, virtuous, and victorious. We were created to war together, man and woman, side by side, tearing down demonic strongholds of wickedness and advancing the territory of the kingdom of God. If you want to be empowered to accomplish your kingdom destiny and purpose in Christ, this book is for you Using numerous examples from Scripture, this book shows women how to tap into the essence of the chayil anointing so they will be endued with power to defend and take back what is theirs; strengthened and motivated to tap into their God-given abilities and power to build and influence the areas they occupy; activated with supernatural wisdom and power to get wealth and to overtake the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy; able to take authority and defend their families, possessions, destinies, property, and dignity; encouraged to have an edge against the forces that try to destroy their vision and success in business or ministry. The chayil anointing manifests in the woman who is anointed for ministry, business, and marketplace influence.