The Performance of Self: Ritual, Clothing, and Identity During the Hundred Years War. By Susan Crane. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002. Pp. ix + 268; 15 illustrations. $49.95 (cloth); $19.95 (paper).

Susan Crane's Performance of Self addresses fourteenth-century aristocratic society through the lens of current anthropological and performance theory, evoking the way in which secular culture constructs its identity through outward display. The effects are as rich as they are varied. Attending to both quotidian performance and ceremonial occasions, Crane demonstrates how every-day clothing, elaborate costumes, masks, livery, heraldry, and ritual are all grist to the identity mill through which both individuals and collectivities create, enact, and affirm their selfhood before an audience which is busily engaged in a similar performance.

Dyan Elliott
Indiana University