Growing directly out of the experiences of a team of historians at Washington State University who designed a new foundational course for WSU’s common requirements, the Roots of Contemporary Issues series is built on the premise that students will be better at facing current and future challenges, no matter their major or career path, if they are capable of addressing controversial and pressing issues in mature, reasoned ways using evidence, critical thinking, and clear written and oral communication skills. To help students achieve these goals, each title in the Roots of Contemporary Issues series argues that we need both a historical understanding and an appreciation of the ways in which humans have been interconnected with places around the world for decades and even centuries. Much of the world’s politics revolve around questions about gender and imperialism, including the relationship between gender and empire over the last five hundred years. There are no easy answers to these questions, but the decisions that all of us make about them will have tremendous consequences for individuals and for the planet in the future.

Gender Rules introduces students to history from the point of view of controversial and pressing issues they already know about and many of whom already feel invested in. Each chapter includes both Western and non-Western content, allowing readers to understand the deep past as connected to the present, and to see that the West has interacted with non-Western regions for centuries.