Conway avoids calling her work a reception historical analysis of Judges 4–5, although readers may perceive it that way. Her book begins with a thoughtful discussion of “reception history” and a critique of the notion of origins. There is no “original” text passively received, but rather various cultural performances of Jael and Sisera offered in various forms across time. Rather than offering a comprehensive catalogue of references to these figures, Conway focuses on substantive retellings from several historical periods and genres and generally eschews passing allusions to the story.

Although she does not locate the origins of Jael in Judges 4–5, Conway begins the volume with an analysis of the biblical traditions as the earliest performances of the story. Her discussion of the two versions elucidates commonalities and differences between them, and highlights ambiguities, gaps, and sexual innuendos, the last of which are obfuscated in translations. She interprets the Hebrew text in ways accessible to a lay audience. Similarly, many of the texts she discusses are likely unfamiliar to many, so she mixes summary and analysis so that she is not talking over the heads of readers; and visual works are reproduced in black and white. She first discusses ancient retellings, including the book of Judith as a reworking of the Jael story, and moves quickly through ancient and medieval performances (Sisera as the devil, Jael as the church or as type of Mary) to the age of print. In the early modern period, Jael represents a brave moral example to women or cautionary tale for men (seductive slayer). Conway then examines Renaissance paintings that generally strive to domesticate Jael's precedent of female-against-male violence by continuing prior moralizing interpretation. In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century writing, Jael represents female dissatisfaction with restrictive social roles, and sympathy for her violent act is often expressed, especially by women writers. Later in the twentieth century, feminist storytellers use Jael to convey anger against patriarchy.

In her concluding reflections, Conway notes that as she spoke of her work with inquiring and educated people outside biblical studies, almost no one knew the story or was even familiar with Judges generally. This cultural forgetfulness is also thematic in A. S. Byatt's short story “Jael,” which Conway also analyzes. Conway suggests that reception historical works offer one way to discover how Western culture continually returns to biblical traditions to speak to contemporary situations and that biblical material thereby acquires an accumulated authority that individual voices lack. Conway offers a well-written analysis that offers both thoughtful reflections on reception history as a method and insights into how one biblical story has consistently informed discussion of gender, sex, and violence across centuries and genres. It may be of interest to both biblical scholars and laypeople in an affordable volume.