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Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early ... and the University of North Carolina Press) Paperback – November 25, 1996

by Kathleen M. Brown (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 55 ratings
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Kathleen Brown examines the origins of racism and slavery in British North America from the perspective of gender. Both a basic social relationship and a model for other social hierarchies, gender helped determine the construction of racial categories and the institution of slavery in Virginia. But the rise of racial slavery also transformed gender relations, including ideals of masculinity. In response to the presence of Indians, the shortage of labor, and the insecurity of social rank, Virginia's colonial government tried to reinforce its authority by regulating the labor and sexuality of English servants and by making legal distinctions between English and African women. This practice, along with making slavery hereditary through the mother, contributed to the cultural shift whereby women of African descent assumed from lower-class English women both the burden of fieldwork and the stigma of moral corruption. Brown's analysis extends through Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, an important juncture in consolidating the colony's white male public culture, and into the eighteenth century. She demonstrates that, despite elite planters' dominance, wives, children, free people of color, and enslaved men and women continued to influence the meaning of race and class in colonial Virginia.
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  1. Print length
    512 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Omohundro Institute and UNC Press
  4. Publication date
    November 25, 1996
  5. Dimensions
    6.12 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0807846236
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

ÝC¨rucial to our understanding not only of gender but of race and power in colonial Virginia.

"Journal of Southwest Georgia History"

ÝS¨he has transformed even the very familiar by her original thinking and her command of recent theoretical formulations.

"Signs"

Meticulously researched, carefully reasoned, and gracefully written, this book should be on the reading list of every historian.

"American Historical Review"

Should be a standard purchase for all academic libraries with holdings in U.S. history.

"Choice"

This big book is intriguing, provocative, and deeply unsettling.

"Journal of Southern History"

"Meticulously researched, carefully reasoned, and gracefully written, this book should be on the reading list of every historian.

"American Historical Review""

"This big book is intriguing, provocative, and deeply unsettling.

"Journal of Southern History""

[C]rucial to our understanding not only of gender but of race and power in colonial Virginia.

"Journal of Southwest Georgia History"

[S]he has transformed even the very familiar by her original thinking and her command of recent theoretical formulations.

"Signs"

Review

Kathleen Brown has written an important book that is going to revolutionize our understanding of colonial Virginia, of the origins of slavery, and of the role of gender in the evolution of early American society. . . . An admirable combination of sophisticated conceptual design and richly textured and original data . . . that will have a major intellectual impact across the fields of American history." —Drew Gilpin Faust, author of Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Omohundro Institute and UNC Press (November 25, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807846236
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.65 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.12 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 55 ratings

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Kathleen M. Brown

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
55 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Joey Degollado
5.0 out of 5 stars Colonial History at its Best
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2013
Verified Purchase
This was one of the text books assigned to my senior level Colonial America class. I enjoyed reading this text and discussing it in class every week. The amount of information that it covered was amazing and gave a very clear picture of how women lived during a very important time in US history.
4 people found this helpful
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Hymeed
5.0 out of 5 stars All about woman
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2014
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This book is very important for men to read, because these so not trust no one if you can not trust your wife who can you trust then.
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Old School
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2015
Verified Purchase
Very interesting view of Colonial Virginia's hierarchy with detailed research to support the thesis of female rights and their societal position relative to men and slaves. Well written. Recommend to anyone interested in early American history, daily life in colonial Virginia and the legacy of slavery in the US.
5 people found this helpful
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Susana Geliga
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2017
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Excellent book!
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RMendoza
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2015
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My kind of book.
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They Call Me John
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2017
This has been a very exciting journey for me to go through.

Kathleen Brown has made a very heavy, but insightful, look into how Colonial Virginia was shaped by race, patriarchal power, and gender relations. I was really apprehensive that this book would quickly become a gender studies snore fest, but Kathleen instead creates a wonderful book that delves into the nitty-gritty of how these three elements play upon each other. Her use of how gender has influenced history has caused me to hope that other historians will start to use this lens and to see what they'll pick up from it.
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JMW
3.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Reading
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2015
Verified Purchase
A heavy book in all senses of the word. Interesting material, not necessarily always told in an interesting manner. A good, but again not compellingly told, overview of women's rights or non-rights in the 18th C. But be sure to feel strong when reading it! It's VERY heavy, and the Kindle version does not have the maps or pictures of the printed version.
9 people found this helpful
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