In 1791 the French feminist Olympe de Gouge wrote that, "as women have the right to take their places on the scaffold, they must also have the right to take their seats in government". In "Death Comes to the Maiden", Camille Naish explores the issue of women's rights through the history of female execution, concentrating on three major periods of European history: the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the French Revolution. She reveals the sexual prejudices experienced by those condemned to by hanging, burning or decapitation and examines the lives and deaths of figures such as Joan of Arc, Anne Boleyn and Charlotte Corday. Beyond biography, Naish also considers the symbolic aspects of female execution and stresses the tragic, sacrificial and erotic literary viewpoint of such writers as de Sade, Genet and Brecht. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of cultural studies, history and literature.