Kathleen B. Casey’s book about purses wins review in Ms. Magazine

Casey’s book was published in July 2025.

Furman University’s Kathleen B. Casey released a book about the history of purses in America last year, but it’s still generating a buzz among members of the media. “The Things She Carried: A Cultural History of the Purse in America,” scores a review in Ms. Magazine by Einav Rabinovitch-Fox who writes:

“Despite being a conspicuous item, one that could be snatched or stolen, Casey is careful to show the power of the purse (pun intended) in offering women the ability to gain visibility in public as equal to men. Women could not only carry with them money, sanitary pads and birth control pills that allowed them freedom of movement and independence, but their bags enabled them to do it while maintaining their respectability and status. At times when women had little control over their bodies, the privacy of their purse offered them an autonomy they could not otherwise gain.”

Casey is a professor of history and director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at Furman. “The Things She Carried” was published in July 2025 by Oxford University Press.