Book Review: She Hath Been Reading: Women and Shakespeare Clubs in America

Clubwomen found meaning in Shakespeare in many ways, including preparing discussion questions and quizzes on Shakespeare's plays, adapting Shakespeare in spoofs and satires, writing and publishing criticism in periodicals, impersonating characters, and debating heroines like Katherine and Portia as role models. Reading Shakespeare created an intellectual space in the home, whereas discussions at club meetings introduced women to criticism and Shakespeare studies, broadening their intellectual community. In "Shakespeare and Black Women's Clubs," the book's final chapter, Scheil investigates how black women's clubs recognized the cultural power of canonical authors, and read Shakespeare as part of a larger commitment to education, empowerment, and upward mobility.