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Book synopsis

In early American society, one's identity was determined in large part by gender. The ways in which men and women engaged with their communities were generally not equal: married women fell under the legal control of their husbands, who handled all negotiations with the outside world, as well as many domestic interactions. The death of a husband enabled women to transcend this strict gender divide. Yet, as a widow, a woman occupied a third, liminal gender in early America, performing an unusual mix of male and female roles in both public and private life. With shrewd analysis of prescriptive literature as well as widows' wills, court appearances, newspaper advertisements, and letters, "The Widows' Might" explores how widows were portrayed in early American culture, and how widows themselves responded to their unique role. Using a comparative approach, Vivian Bruce Conger deftly unpacks how widows in the Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Maryland colonies navigated their domestic, legal, economic, and community roles in early American society.

Book details

Book category Books in English Society & social sciences Society & culture: general Social groups

• Full title: Widows' Might
• Subtitle: Widowhood and Gender in Early British America
• Author: Vivian Leigh Bruce Conger
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardback
• Number of pages: 272
• EAN: 9780814716748
• ISBN: 0814716741
• ID: 04930920
• Publisher: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
• Weight: 482 g
• Dimensions: 229 × 152 × 21 mm
• Date of publishing: 01. March 2009

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