Published in a series on cultural history, this 2011 dissertation from a joint program between Charles University in Prague and the Technical University of Dresden sets out to comprehend “the perception, respectively the presentation, of the female body in the public space before the First World War” (15). To undertake this daunting agenda, author Filip Bláha limits his focus to Dresden and Prague, both cities that became major urban centers in the course of the nineteenth century yet remained in the shadows of the larger metropolises of Berlin and Vienna. After an introductory section on theoretical approaches and sources, the work is divided into three sections: one on the portrayal of women in early photographs, a second on women in the urban environment, and a final part on the impact of women's gymnastics training on perceptions of the female body.

Among the theoretical underpinnings described in the book's introduction, the work of Pierre Bourdieu and the nationalist schema of Miroslav Hroch appear most prominently. The author admits that his sources from Prague were more plentiful than those from Dresden, a disparity most apparent in the first section of the book on photographs of women. This brief overview focuses on photographs in the collection of the American Club of Ladies in Prague. Founded by Vojtěch Náprstek, a prominent national leader who lived for many years in the United States following the failed Revolution of 1848, the club held lectures to expand the horizons of its members and introduce them to new labor-saving devices that would facilitate their greater participation in national life. Bláha analyzes three portrait photographs to show how they reflected the ideals of womanhood at this time, before concluding that the exchange of these photographs as visiting cards was undertaken to show women's membership in the national community.

The second, more substantial section focuses on perceptions of women in the cities of Dresden and Prague. Using the male flâneur as his starting point of analysis, the author argues that women in cities at this time were defined by the male gaze. Examples are women in the new coffee houses, who were seen as inferior to male patrons; prostitutes, who were understood as a danger to the male flâneur; and women in advertising posters, who provided blank slates for male fantasies. This section concludes with an analysis of the parades that accompanied gymnastic festivals in Dresden in 1885 and in Prague in 1912. Although women themselves had minor roles in these events, their bodies appeared as allegorical figures representing abstractions such as the nation. In the parades themselves, “[w]omen shared in the emotional construction of the public space, [but] the entire production was led by men” (124).

The last, and longest, section of the book analyzes the impact of gymnastics and exercise on changing perceptions of the female body. After an overview on the rise of women's clubs in the nineteenth century that focuses on Prague, the author chronicles the creation of modern gymnastics in Europe. Women gained entry to gymnastic clubs in the late nineteenth century, but the content of their exercise program was limited by prejudices about women's bodies and capabilities. Whereas men trained in gymnastic clubs to project a strong and militaristic image of the nation, women's training focused on the health benefits of exercise, especially as preparation for childbirth. This section includes a digression about an international hygiene exhibition in Dresden in 1911 that is only remotely connected to the theme of the book. An analysis of photographs of female gymnasts that rounds out this section is followed by a brief conclusion recapitulating the book's main points. The book has illustrations and a bibliography but no index.

Although the topic of this book is intriguing, it suffers from a lack of focus, frequent digressions into unrelated topics, and uneven research. Arguments move back and forth across time, locations shift, and there is little comparative analysis. The women under examination are exclusively from the bourgeois class, with no mention of the more progressive attitudes toward women's bodies and abilities espoused by organizations like the Socialist gymnastic clubs. Although enlightening in parts, the book as a whole fails to achieve the promise of its title, to put “women's bodies in focus” in the period before World War I.