The essays in Race, Gender, and Rankexamine major cultural transformations from the 15th through to the 19th centuries. European colonization within and outside Europe increased `race-consciousness as a category of thought. From Christine de Pizan to Mary Wollstonecraft, feminist intellectuals raised consciousness of the ways societal institutions moulded men and women into specific gender roles, yet still the double standard persisted. The transformation of `rank-consciousness' to `class-consciousness' began in the ferment before the French Revolution and culminated in Karl Marx. Nevertheless, current controversy focuses on the liberal John Locke, who declared the natural right of life, liberty, and property, yet remained ambiguous on the slave trade and on the citizenship rights of those who own no property. Dr MARYANNE C. HOROWITZ is Professor of History, Occidental College, and Research Associate, University of California, Los Angeles. Contributors: MARYANNE CLINE HOROWITZ, JEFFREY L. KLAIBER, CLAUDINE HUNTING, WAYNE GLAUSSER, HERMAN LEBOVICS, JOHN C. GREENE, REGINALD HORSMAN, ASTRIK L. GABRIEL, NADIA MARGOLIS, KEITH THOMAS, JEROME NADELHAFT, G.J. BARKER-BENFIELD, CHARLES CONSTANTIN, STEVEN WALLECH, DALLAS L. CLOUATRE, MARCIA L. COLISH, JUDITH RICHARDS, LOTTE MULLIGAN, JOHN K. GRAHAM, JOHN C. WINFREY and NORMAN S. FIERING.