In the 18th century, it was still true that most royal succession and most power was in the hands of men. But a number of women ruled, directly or through influencing their husbands and sons. The 19th century saw both democratic revolutions and consolidation of power; a few powerful women rulers made a difference in world history.

• 18th Century Women Rulers
• 19th Century Women Rulers

In 1984, Catherine Clinton's The Other Civil War was a pioneering survey of accomplishments and experience of a century of women. The 1999 revisions update the story with recent research, enriching but not fundamentally changing the nature or organization. It's still one of the best thorough reviews of what happened during a century of incredible change for women. Clinton's preface to the 1999 edition reveals that in 1978, at Princeton University, she was asked to cover the subject of American women in the nineteenth century -- in one lecture. As she says, today "this recollection seems incomprehensible." Read more about this classic in women's history: The Other Civil War by Catherine Clinton