This book elucidates early modern attitudes toward women's public
display. It is a cultural study that draws on a wide range of literary
and non-literary texts from 1650-1700 to revisit the sites where women
appeared most prominently: the playhouse, the park, and the New Exchange
(a shopping arcade in the Strand). An academic study, Outward
Appearances is written in a clear and engaging style. It is aimed
particularly at literary scholars, but historians will take a keen
interest in it as well. It offers a fresh context for the study of
Restoration drama and a provocative argument about women and public
space.