Eighteen case studies make up this collection, each concerned with women who held power in Africa. Kaplan's subjects are royal and elite women, brought into their positions by inheritance, by their own choosing, or by circumstance, and the volume examines the ritual and political offices through which they came to wield authority and sway, at home as well as in public life.

Around twelve ethnic groups from sub-Saharan Africa appear, most of them southern or West African.

Contributors are drawn from across the disciplines: religion, women's studies, art history, comparative literature, political science, history, and African as well as African American studies.