diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index a36732d..aaccbb0 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 
 - Dropped Python 2 support
 
+### Bugfixes
+
+- Fixed a crash when exporting an empty string with the ReST format (#368)
+
 ## 0.14.0 (2019-10-19)
 
 ### Deprecations
diff --git a/src/tablib/formats/_rst.py b/src/tablib/formats/_rst.py
index 27151a3..8b5cfa0 100644
--- a/src/tablib/formats/_rst.py
+++ b/src/tablib/formats/_rst.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ def _max_word_len(text):
     8
 
     """
-    return max((len(word) for word in text.split()))
+    return max((len(word) for word in text.split())) if text else 0
 
 
 def _get_column_string_lengths(dataset):
diff --git a/tests/test_tablib.py b/tests/test_tablib.py
index 04cba69..77f2ef6 100755
--- a/tests/test_tablib.py
+++ b/tests/test_tablib.py
@@ -486,17 +486,6 @@ class TablibTestCase(BaseTestCase):
         self.founders.append(('First\nSecond', 'Name', 42))
         self.founders.export('xlsx')
 
-    def test_rst_force_grid(self):
-        data.append(self.john)
-        data.append(self.george)
-        data.headers = self.headers
-
-        simple = tablib.formats._rst.export_set(data)
-        grid = tablib.formats._rst.export_set(data, force_grid=True)
-        self.assertNotEqual(simple, grid)
-        self.assertNotIn('+', simple)
-        self.assertIn('+', grid)
-
 
 class HTMLTests(BaseTestCase):
     def test_html_export(self):
@@ -538,6 +527,35 @@ class HTMLTests(BaseTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(html, d.html)
 
 
+class RSTTests(BaseTestCase):
+    def test_rst_force_grid(self):
+        data = tablib.Dataset()
+        data.append(self.john)
+        data.append(self.george)
+        data.headers = self.headers
+
+        simple = tablib.formats._rst.export_set(data)
+        grid = tablib.formats._rst.export_set(data, force_grid=True)
+        self.assertNotEqual(simple, grid)
+        self.assertNotIn('+', simple)
+        self.assertIn('+', grid)
+
+    def test_empty_string(self):
+        data = tablib.Dataset()
+        data.headers = self.headers
+        data.append(self.john)
+        data.append(('Wendy', '', 43))
+        self.assertEqual(
+            data.export('rst'),
+            '==========  =========  ===\n'
+            'first_name  last_name  gpa\n'
+            '==========  =========  ===\n'
+            'John        Adams      90 \n'
+            'Wendy                  43 \n'
+            '==========  =========  ==='
+        )
+
+
 class CSVTests(BaseTestCase):
     def test_csv_format_detect(self):
         """Test CSV format detection."""