provides telling insight into the experiences of twenty women professors of different backgrounds and ages who work in various academic disciplines within the UK academy. Kate Hoskins examines the influences and factors which shape the capacity of some women to achieve high positions in a setting where they have historically been excluded. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, she analyzes the impact of their identity—their social class, gender and ethnicity—in their choices of promotion pathways, their journeys of progression and their constructions of success. is an innovative and engaging sociological analysis of the concept of career success. The stories are revealing and the empirical and theoretical understandings make the book essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, further and higher education professionals and active researchers.