Capital Intentions

“Study makes an undeniably significant contribution to the fields of women’s, business, and San Francisco history.” — Western Historical Quarterly

“A lively, engaging, and far-ranging look at women entrepreneurs. . . . Sparks fills a large gap in historians' understanding of women’s role in the development of the West. . . . There is much to glean from Sparks’s investigation.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“Sparks offers the most sophisticated account to date of the history of women in business. She gracefully navigates between choice and constraint, vividly depicting women as shrewd economic actors who seized the opportunities available to them, but who nevertheless operated within a gendered economic landscape.” — Wendy Gamber, author of The Female Economy

“[Capital Intentions: Female Proprietors in San Francisco] is a fine study and a nice addition to the continuing work on female proprietors. . . . Those who are interested in the history of small business in the U.S. should read this book.” — EH.NET

“Female entrepreneurs in the West have been invisible for too long. This book fills a gap in women’s history and business history and answers important questions about women’s economic participation in the West — questions that have often been obscured by stereotypical portraits of prostitutes and madams.” — Lynn M. Hudson, California Polytechnic State University