Abstract
The Capital of Free Women is a wonderfully rich book, alive with vivid vignettes of enterprising women who supported themselves and their families by buying, selling, and leasing land, houses, cattle and slaves; running small businesses such as an inn or pack animal rental agency; borrowing and lending money; and managing their finances carefully. [...]the women in this book were not transgressive. Because it is a qualitative rather than quantitative study, we don't know how many cases it is based on or what proportion of free African-descended women might qualify as "women of means."