Can a silk glove be an expression of power? In this carefully curated volume, internationally renowned historians have come together to explore the interconnected perspectives of gender, materiality, and politics. As the authors elaborate on these topics, the volume offers contributions covering a period from the sixteenth century to the present day, investigating political culture and diplomacy, women’s work and assets, sexuality and queer perspectives, and the role of materiality and objects.

The volume is dedicated to the historian Svante Norrhem, who has published extensively on these topics and contributed invaluable empirical findings and methodological advances throughout his career. In his work, as in this volume, the detail of power is teased out through groundbreaking ideas and innovative research.