A scholar of philosophy, theology, biblical studies, and Semitic languages, Tetlow assembles pieces and fragments of history in order to create mosaic portraits of women, crime, and punishment in the laws and societies of Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Khatti during the last three millennia BCE. She bases her study on feminist historiography, which assumes that history is not a fixed, static structure, but a fluid process in which new data are discovered and new insights reveal new meaning. The second volume will cover ancient Greece. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)