Masculinity in the Reformation Era edited by Scott H. Hendrix and Susan C. Karant‐Nunn

This collection broaches relatively uncharted waters. Drawing on the legacy of postrevisionist gender history, it investigates how sixteenth-century societies shaped masculine identity within a normative framework of Christian social ideals. The collection arose from the observation that until recently there has been a disinclination to explore the history of masculinity, but more specifically, masculine religious identity. Idealsprovide the baseline for the collection, but the essays go beyond this, focusing on the practice, rather than the theory, and as such, provide a nuanced and intelligent dialogue offering a tantalising glimpse of the diversity of masculine experiences. Introducing the book, Hendrix and Karant-Nunn demonstrate the importance of ‘ethnographic scrutiny’ and interdisciplinary studies to gender history.