Lerner, a historian and pioneer of Women's History, has written twelve essays on and about women making history in the nineteenth and twentieth century in the United States. She poses some basic questions: How can one best define women as a distinct group in society? How useful to historical studies is the concept of women's oppression? What is the relative importance of race, class, and sex as factors in history? Contains: Autobiographical notes, by way of an introduction ; New approaches to the study of women in American history ; The lady and the mill girl: changes in the status of women in the age of Jackson ; The feminists: a second look ; Women's rights and American feminism ; Black women in the United States: a problem in historiography and interpretation ; Community work of black club women ; Black and white women in interaction and confrontation ; The political activities of antislavery women ; Just a housewife ; Placing women in history: definitions and challenges ; The majority finds its past ; The challenge of women's history.