I have no hesitation in saying how much I admire Jacky Bratton's New Readings in Theatre History. I consider it an essential guide to an understanding of modern theatre historiography, and it offers a cluster of apposite alternative approaches to historical research. That this book throws light into some areas of the early Victorian stage that are rarely investigated and even less frequently analyzed is a further gift. Bratton has a knack for identifying those marginalized, by gender or by theatrical task, from central discourses and in restoring to these now-distant sources a reclaimed significance. She hears the small voices and those whose contributions to the British stage were rarely, if ever, known to audiences in the capital or major centers. She has given us a superb study, vital to the practicing historian.