This fine collection of essays on Mary Astell seeks to build on existing ‘biographical and textual work’ by ‘attending to Astell's works in the contexts in which they were articulated’ (p. 6). The editors suggest that the methodological frameworks within which Astell's writings have been situated to date limit our understanding of her philosophy, influence and intellectual achievements. Feminist scholarship has often positioned Astell alongside other women writers and this has inoculated her from the broader socio-historical context in which she operated. Similarly, attempts to place Astell within a ‘liberal tradition of rights’ create an anachronistic conflict between her ‘conservative political values’ and her ‘proto-feminist agenda’ or ‘progressive educational ideals’ (p. 4). This collection enriches our interpretation of Astell by focusing both on the variety of genres which Astell deployed and ‘the way in which her individual works themselves employ varied sets of vocabularies’ (p. 8). As the title indicates, gender remains central to the concerns of the contributors. However, Astell's conceptions of gender are firmly historicised by the recognition that ‘they were always elaborated through the vocabularies which emerge from the dual and sometimes competing registers of “reason” and “faith”’ (p. 9). Sharon Achinstein demonstrates that it is in fact Astell's concern with the flourishing of State and Church that prompted her to resist ‘the sexist discourse of her own day’; all her reasoning – liberal, feminist and otherwise – was modified by a resolutely ‘otherworldly’ orientation (p. 29). Hannah Smith also positions Astell's educational writings within the context of contemporary Anglican thought, clearly showing that she was ‘as much concerned with preserving the spiritual monopoly of the Church as with training female minds’ (p. 47). Kolbrener argues that Astell's A serious proposal is unique amongst her works in its ‘celebration’ of how ‘“charms” … might be positively embodied in the emblem of feminine friendship’ rather than solely located in one's communion with the divine (p. 63). Mark Goldie deconstructs the concept of a simplistic opposition between Astell and John Locke. He indicates that it is Locke's Paraphrase and notes on the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians that is the target of her critique, rather than the Two treatises of government. His excellent essay helps to restore ‘the complex mental landscape of Astell's Tory ideology’ (p. 85). Corinne Harol focuses more on the radical dynamic inherent within Astell's thought, arguing that the ‘centrality of desire’ in her A serious proposal enables her to imagine ‘a subject who is neither repressed nor limited to … negative freedoms’ (p. 88). Melinda Zook compares Astell to Aphra Behn: she argues that dissenting women posed a real problem for Astell's Tory worldview; she could not acknowledge ‘the sincerity of their devotion’ but ‘was hesitant’ to dismiss them (p. 113). Later essays extend the interdisciplinary and thematic scope of the book by analysing Astell's poetry, her exclusion of equity, her philosophical analysis of the causation of sensation and her engagement with Cartesian ethics. This is an excellent collection and contributes much to an understanding of Astell in her contemporary contexts.