The History of Widowhood: A Bibliographic Overview

Abstract

Historical research on widowhood in the United States and in Europe, with an emphasis on the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, is still in its infancy. So far certain general perspectives in the changing demographic, economic, and cultural aspects of widowhood have been outlined, and a multitude of cross-cultural variations from the general patterns have also been found. This, as well as the fact that gender-specific consequences of widowhood result in an unequal distribution of sources concerning widows and widowers respectively, indicate the need for future research in the field.