Debra A. Shattuck is Provost and Assistant Professor of History at John Witherspoon College.
"This work fills a noteworthy gap in the scholarship and will be of
importance to any individual interested in sport, women's history,
and gender studies. Recommended."--Choice "It is safe to say that
Bloomer Girls may be considered the definitive book on women's
baseball in the nineteenth century. Shattuck's research shows on
every page, and she masterfully decodes primary sources and
constructs a satisfying answer for anyone who has ever wondered why
baseball is a man's game."--Journal of the Illinois State
Historical Society "Bloomer Girls would be a helpful resource for
researchers interested in social history, particularly regarding
gender roles and sports, and for baseball fans interested in the
history of the sport."--FGS Forum "Shattuck sets out to discover
how a gender-neutral game became so masculine by researching
women's organized baseball from antebellum American through the
turn of the century. . . . This volume belongs in many public
library sports-history and gender-studies collections."--Booklist
"Bloomer Girls is definitely worth your time."--MLB.com "Bloomer
Girls is a thoughtful book for true baseball historians and those
fans whose appreciation of the game includes its darker history. It
is also a valuable source of material for those interested in the
future of women's sports."--Illinois Times "Bloomer Girls: Women
Baseball Pioneers fills a huge void in sports literature regarding
women baseball players. . . . Shattuck’s book is definitely a must
read for all baseball researchers, serious fans, those interested
in the history of the game and gender historians."--Sport in
American History "Debra Shattuck knocks it out of the park with her
first book. . . . Definitely a must read for all baseball
researchers, serious fans, those interested in the history of the
game and gender historians."--Sport in American History
"Bloomer Girls is a thoughtful book for true baseball historians
and those fans whose appreciation of the game includes its darker
history. It is also a valuable source of material for those
interested in the future of women's sports."--Illinois Times
"Bloomer Girls is significant in restoring females to their
rightful place in America's baseball history." --Pacific Historical
Review
"Shatuck's work is in many ways an exemplar of sports history and
the potential contributions studies of sport can make to other
historiographies, including gender and national history." --Reviews
in American History
"This well-written work illuminates an understudied aspect of
American women's history and deserves a wide readership." --The
Journal of American History
"Bloomer Girls makes an unprecedented contribution in its field
(the endnotes alone are worth the price of admission). Anyone with
a prior interest in women's baseball or the burgeoning field of
'Outsider Baseball'--which includes the non-MLB experiences of
ethnic minorities, racially segregated leagues, and novelty
baseball--must own this book."--John Thorn, Historian of Major
League Baseball
"Debra Shattuck has written a page-turner, uncovering a long-hidden
backstory of America's national sport. There's formidable
historical research here, embedded in lively writing about
pioneering athletes, corrupt promoters, and formidable businessmen,
who together reshaped understandings of the capacities of men and
women, on the field and off. Give this important book to every
baseball fan you know, (couch potatoes included)."--Linda K.
Kerber, author of No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and
the Obligations of Citizenship
"Not only does Debra Shattuck insert women back into the narrative
of baseball history, but she also offers us the fullest account yet
of how the early game threw varied gender meanings into sharp
relief. A stunning achievement."--Benjamin G. Rader, author of
Baseball: A History of America's Game
"Paints a meticulous picture of the social and political forces
which advanced the lie of baseball as 'a man's game,' and documents
how Bloomer Girl baseball emerged, a benchmark for all who support
equality."--Barbara Gregorich, author of Women at Play: The Story
of Women in Baseball
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |