Scholars of English literature explore depictions during the height of imperial Britain of women making history both within and before that period. Their topics include Flor Annie Steel's On the Face of the Waters, Froude and Strickland on Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, toward a literary historiography in Gaskell and Eliot, and Victorian travel narrative as a historical record of British imperial desires in China. Distributed in the US by Associated University Presses. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)