A lustrous book which traces the often agonising rise of women in the Foreign Office and mercilessly dissects the resistance they encountered
Peter Hennessy
A path-breaking account, from one of our leading and most original historians of modern Britain, of how the male-dominated world of British diplomacy gradually – and grudgingly – let professional women in. It should ... Read morebe read by everyone who works in the Foreign Office, or in British embassies overseas, and by anyone, anywhere, who is concerned about the part that women have played, do play and should play, in the making of foreign policy and the conduct of international relations
David Cannadine
McCarthy has produced a sometimes humorous but often dispiriting picture of what women who had set their sights on foreign posting continued to experience, long after they had won a toehold in other fields
Literary Review
Helen McCarthy has conducted a lot of valuable interviews for her book and researched assiduously
Evening Standard
A fascinating account of the manoeuvres of the leaders of the Foreign Office to prevent the admission of women to its diplomatic and consular services
Spectator
The women are striking, the trajectories of their often brief careers compelling
Observer
This pioneering study gives a penetrating, readable and most welcome introduction to a neglected set of issues, and will be gratefully received by a wide readership
Times Higher Education Supplement
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