Author probes the motives and morals of some of history's most infamous and fascinating women. Drawing intimate portraits of those who have--either by chance, coercion or choice--assumed this complex role, from Chinese concubines and European royal mistresses to mobster molls and trophy dolls, Mistresses offers a rich blend of history, personal biography and cultural study.

Historical and biographical portraits of the following women: Hagar, Aspasia, Corinna, Dolorosa, Concubines in China (Yu-fang, May-ying), Concubines in Japan (Lady Nijo), Geisha Mistresses, Harem Concubines (Roxelana, Tz'u-hsi ), Nell Gwynne, Jeanne-Antonette de Pompadour, Jeanne du Barry, Lola Montez, Katharina Schratt, Alice Keppel, Elena Lupescu, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Lady Bess Foster and Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Caroline Lamb, Clair Clairmont, Countess Teresa Guiccionli, Papal Mistressess (Theodra and Marozia Theophylact, Vannoza d'Argianno and Guila Farnese ), Modern Clerical Mistresses (Annie Murphy, Louise Iusewicz ), Malinche, "Country wives" in colonial America (Sally Fiddler, Betsey Sinclair, and Margaret Taylor), Mistresses in conquered Asia (Le Ly Hayslip and Dao Thi Mui), Pibbah, Julia Chinn, Sally Hemmings, Julia Francis Lewis Dickinson, Harriet Jacobs, Eleanore Hodys, Eva Braun, Hannah Arendt, Heloise, Emile du Chalelet, Jeanne Hellabuterne, George Eliot, Lillian Hellman, Catherine Waltson, Joyce Maynard, Monstor molls,(Virginia Hill, Arlyne Brickman, Sandy Sandowsy, Georgia Durante and Shirley Ryce), Kremlin dolls, Castro's comrades (Naty Revuelta, Ceclia Sanchez,) Marion Davis, Gloria Swanson, Maria Callas, Marilyn Monroe, Judith Campbell, Vicki Morgan, Jane Eyre, Hester Prynne, Emma Bovary, Anna Karenina, Mildred Rogers, Ellen Olenska, Lara, Sarah Miles, Merrion Palmer, Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman, Lillian Ross, Simone de Beauvoir, Paula, Rachel, and Michaela.