Rating: 
Summary: I hoped that it would be better
Review: This book represents a first. No other popular book has been written about what most defined nuns to most people: their clothing. Although most of the foundresses (most founders were women) deliberately adopted the prevailing clothing of poor women or widows around them, history and the dominant clergy soon mandated that these clothes never change, and in time become not only outmoded but outlandish, dirty and dangerous. Popular accounts written by nuns at a much later date describe the time necessary to maintain these creations, the dirt they accumulated, smells and sweat they caused, and the unnecessary accidents caused by nuns driving in them, as well as their dangerous impracticality and flammability in true emergencies, such as the notorious 1058 parochial school fire in Chicago in 1958. None of this is included in this conventional, rather sweet and pious book. The author claims much research, which doesn't show. The pictures are almost all out of the many editions of "Guide to the Catholic Sisterhoods in the United States", which is available on CD-ROM. I wish that I could recommend another book, but there isn't one as such; there are many accounts written by nuns and former nuns living in the period of the full habits, which can be found on google.com, amazon.com, or bookfinder.com. All of them will give a very vivid account of life within a coffin.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This is a fascinating subject, but Kuhns makes too many mistakes in areas I'm familiar with for me to trust there are none in areas I'm not. Her discussion of pagan culture is muddled; she collapses together customs of different centuries as if all pagans of all places and times were interchangeable. The book also shows signs of having been spell-checked by computer.
Rating:
Summary: Decent "starter" book
Review: Without reiterating the commentary from the five previous reviewers (all of whom I happen to agree with), I will only add that The Habit makes a decent primer for those who are new to the subject of women's clerical garb. It's a fast read and fairly interesting, but it really isn't worth the new hardcover price. Look for a used copy.
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