This new volume explores the limits and possibilities of economic change in transforming the lives of women in rural Greece at a time of great economic and political change. It is based on ethnographic research conducted in two communities of Western Crete: Nohia and Platanos, where Lazaridis concentrates on three activities women are involved in: handcrafts, market-gardening and olive-growing. Her rich and fascinating account of the changing dynamics of rural life in a still-remote part of Europe, draws on a wealth of statistical and demographic data from Greek government and state archives. The result is this important contribution to social anthropology, rural sociology and to the literature on gender and development.