Casey’s book about purses reviewed in Foreward and Library Journal

Casey’s book is due out Aug. 4.

What do purses, sacks and bags tell us about important moments in history? Furman University’s Kathleen B. Casey lays it all out in her new book “The Things She Carried: A Cultural History of the Purse in America” (Oxford University Press) due out August 4. Casey, professor of history and director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, scoured abandoned buildings, archives, advertisements and museum collections to craft a book that explores how “an object that both ordinary and extraordinary Americans used to influence social, cultural, economic, and political change.” Casey’s book received reviews in Foreward and in Library Journal.