India, July 17 -- With the eye of an anthropologist and the passion of a feminist, Mineke Schipper has put the spotlight on the much-neglected subject of widowhood in her newest book, Widows; A Global History. Her extraordinary account of how women whose husbands have died have been treated across the globe for millennia was an eye-opener for this reviewer who had erroneously believed the practice of Sati in India was the pinnacle of injustices heaped on widows.

Schipper's meticulous examination of the cultural history of husband-less women across the world is disturbing. Soon after the passing of their husbands, these women were looked at both with sympathy and suspicion. They were forced to wear grotesque clothes and were isolated for ...