This ground-breaking book was many years in the making by some of the country's leading women scholars.Until the present century, few people thought of travel as a female pursuit. Men traveled; women stayed at home. But women have always journeyed, for many reasons, as this important book demonstrates.

"There is almost nothing on women and travel," notes Susan Armitage, editor of the acclaimed The Women's West and a contributor to Women and the Journey. "It has been taken for granted that men are adventurers and explorers, but what this does is wipe out the stories of women travelers. As we looked at how women's senses of their journeys differed from those of men, we felt like explorers ourselves."

The eleven essays in Women and the Journey, as well as the original artwork by Jo Hockenhull, approach the theme of women and travel from a variety of perspectives, including literature, history, foreign languages, fine arts, and women's studies. Over several years the contributors worked on this project as a team, sharing research, reading one another's work, uniting in the process of creating a unique book together. Like quilt making, "that most female of activities," note McLeod and Frederick in their prologue, "each of us had some say in how the final product was put together."

Women and the Journey is destined to become a women's studies classic. Contributors include Susan Armitage, Joan Burbick, Susanna Finnell, Bonnie Frederick, Diane Gillespie, Jo Hockenhull, Virginia Hyde, Birgitta Ingemanson, Susan McLeod, Sheila Ruzycki O'Brien, Louise Schleiner, Marina Tolmacheva, and Annette White-Parks.