During the second half of the 18th century, the social role of educated women and the nature of domesticity were the focus of widespread debate in Britain. This work explores how small changes in the meaning of patriotism permitted educated women to imagine themselves as political subjects.

During the second half of the eighteenth century, the social role of educated women and the nature of domesticity were the focus of widespread debate in Britain. The emergence of an identifiably feminist voice in that debate is the subject of Harriet Guest's new study, which explores how small changes in the meaning of patriotism and the relations between public and private categories permitted educated British women to imagine themselves as political subjects.