“Exploring the historical and political meanings of motherhood in West Africa and beyond, this book shows that the roles of women were far more complicated than previously thought with women as treasurers, advisors, ritual specialists, and colonial agents in addition to their more familiar roles as queens, wives, and sisters.”

“Semley's work is a welcome addition to a growing literature on gender and the European encounter with African societies. September 2011”
 — Choice

“Semley provides historical depth and historiographical sophistication to this study of Yoruba women in West Africa and the Atlantic World. ”
 — International Journal of African Historical Studies

“'Mother Is Gold, Father Is Glass' is a wonderful contribution to the literature on gender, African women, French colonialism, and the African diaspora.December 2012”
 —  H-Africa

“[T]his is an engaging and informative book for scholars interested in African history and gender.”
 — African Studies Quarterly

“Lorelle Semley's engaging study of the historical and symbolic power of motherhood (and fatherhood) in Ketu, a Yoruba town in the Republic of Benin, makes an important contribution to the study of gender and power in the Atlantic world.africa 2013”
 — Africa

“By excavating [the] ambiguous, shifting space between the rhetoric of Yoruba women's power as queens and mothers, and the realities of women's vulnerability and subordination as wives and slaves, Semley's Mother Is Gold, Father Is Glass makes an original and important contribution to women's history generally and to Yoruba history specifically.54.2 July 2013”
 — Journal of African History

“Focuses on metaphors and realities of women's power, secular and religious, and how power is exercised as public motherhood.”
 — Edna Bay, Emory University

“A book that will be of great interest to Africanist historians, anthropologists, and others who want to learn more about gender relations on the continent.”
 — Misty Bastian, Franklin & Marshall College