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Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America First Edition
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Over the years, the women came to be recognized as a married couple, or something like it. Charity took the role of husband, and Sylvia of wife, within the marriage. Revered by their community, Charity and Sylvia operated a tailor shop employing many local women, served as guiding lights within their church, and participated in raising more than one hundred nieces and nephews. Most extraordinary, all the while the sexual potential of their union remained an open secret, cloaked in silence to preserve their reputations. The story of Charity and Sylvia overturns today's conventional wisdom that same-sex marriage is a modern innovation, and reveals that early America was both more diverse and more accommodating than modern society imagines.
- ISBN-10019062731X
- ISBN-13978-0190627317
- EditionFirst Edition
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication dateOctober 1, 2016
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6.1 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
- Print length296 pages
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- Publisher : Oxford University Press; First Edition (October 1, 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 296 pages
- ISBN-10 : 019062731X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0190627317
- Item Weight : 14.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.1 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #354,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #813 in U.S. Revolution & Founding History
- #1,067 in Women in History
- #4,931 in U.S. State & Local History
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the book well-researched and engaging. They find the content enlightening and inspiring, setting an important example for living and loving. The writing style is described as wonderful and detailed. Readers appreciate the intimate story of two women and their lives in the past.
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Customers appreciate the book's historical accuracy. They find it well-researched and engaging, with a rich perspective on life in 18th and early 19th century America. The book is described as an important account in LGBTQ history.
"...The attention to historical and personal detail in the lives and times of Charity and Sylvia is very impressive...." Read more
"...Historical accuracy is spot-on (or as near as it can be), which is hard enough to achieve with more recognizable figures...." Read more
"...I found it to be well researched and a good read that will certainly have an important place in my family history collection." Read more
"Rachel Cleves presents a well researched exploration of the lives of Charity and Sylvia, two women who lived together in the 1800s, at a time when..." Read more
Customers find the book enlightening and beautifully written. They appreciate the author's research and writing style. The book provides an inspiring example and helps them legitimize themselves. They also mention that it gives them hope for the future.
"...Rachel Hope Cleves and her book to be exceptionally articulate, intelligent and engaging...." Read more
"...imagine to have been a taboo life together, is a credit to her research abilities and her tenacity...." Read more
"In this very readable and engrossing book, Rachel Hope Cleves uses a wide variety of evidence to help us understand how Charity and Sylvia, a..." Read more
"Charity & Sylvia is a carefully-researched and beautifully-written story of two women who were as married as they could have been in early nineteenth..." Read more
Customers find the book engaging and well-researched. They describe it as a great read that they pass along to their daughters.
"...Cleves and her book to be exceptionally articulate, intelligent and engaging...." Read more
"...I found it to be well researched and a good read that will certainly have an important place in my family history collection." Read more
"...The book was enjoyed immensely and I would certainly recommend it." Read more
"Good book. Got it for my college course" Read more
Customers find the story engaging. They describe it as a well-researched and fascinating love story with historical perspective. The narrative is skillfully presented in a visual and sensual way. Readers also mention that the relationship between the two women is interesting, with strong nerves and hearts full of love for each other.
"...It takes us into their time in a very visual, sensual way, and it's fascinating...." Read more
"...their story all the more real, and relevant to today’s society: Love is timeless, and love is not gender dependent, is a message that comes through..." Read more
"...It is certainly a love story, but told in the form of an historical biography...." Read more
"...back then, so these ladies had nerves of steel and hearts full of love for each other...." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing style. They find the book well-researched, readable, and engaging. The author provides detailed descriptions of the two women's 44-year marriage in a visual and sensual way that immerses readers in their time.
"...romances women had with each other, the importance of poetry and subtlety in their lives, and the roles they were expected to play, which both..." Read more
"In this very readable and engrossing book, Rachel Hope Cleves uses a wide variety of evidence to help us understand how Charity and Sylvia, a..." Read more
"...The worst part of the book is that the writing is very dry...." Read more
"...It was eye-opening." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's gender perspective. They find it an engaging story about two women who live independently. The book is described as a written documentary about a lesbian couple. It serves as a useful resource for gender studies and shows how one has to live.
"...Anyway, this is a fabulous book about two women who determined to live lives on their own terms, and to live them together...." Read more
"...i skimmed some areas because of repetitions.this book is a great book for gender studies and shows how you have to live covertly them and now to..." Read more
"This is a written documentary about a lesbian couple who were partners for over 50 years in a small town...." Read more
"A remarkably intimate story of two women, the times in which they lived, and the love they shared. Excellent read." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2014Full disclosure: I had the pleasure of interviewing the author for a podcast. I found both Rachel Hope Cleves and her book to be exceptionally articulate, intelligent and engaging. It's not often I read a biography and find myself turning the pages as if it were a suspense novel. The attention to historical and personal detail in the lives and times of Charity and Sylvia is very impressive. (I did not know what an 'acrostic' was until I read this book!). It takes us into their time in a very visual, sensual way, and it's fascinating. The friendship romances women had with each other, the importance of poetry and subtlety in their lives, and the roles they were expected to play, which both Charity and Sylvia founds ways to break out of. It's also an insightful examination of what exactly constitutes 'the closet,' and how it often involves the unspoken approval and awareness of the communities people live it (which I think is still the case, especially in some communities where everyone knows someone is gay but doesn't 'know' it in the form of public acknowledgement). Anyway, this is a fabulous book about two women who determined to live lives on their own terms, and to live them together. Oh, and I love all the names people had back then, which came as another of the book's many surprises: Silence, Charity, Idea. I'd love to meet someone named Silence today. Very highly recommended.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2014Relating history is so often dry and boring, as if seasoned with the dust of the libraries and archives in which it is held. Not so with Charity & Sylvia. Rachel Hope Cleves brings these strong women to life and includes the reader in their circle of confidence.
Historical accuracy is spot-on (or as near as it can be), which is hard enough to achieve with more recognizable figures. That Cleves has achieved it with two ordinary women, and at that, two women who lived what we imagine to have been a taboo life together, is a credit to her research abilities and her tenacity. But an accurate story can still be dry and boring, and the author avoided that pitfall beautifully. The reader can feel the life and vitality emanating from Charity & Sylvia, which makes their story all the more real, and relevant to today’s society: Love is timeless, and love is not gender dependent, is a message that comes through the years loud and clear.
I am happy that I was able to contribute in my small way to the telling of this story, and intensely proud that the blood of Sylvia Drake’s family flows through my veins. This book is a ‘must-read’ for anyone with a social conscience and anyone who needs to develop one.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2018If you are expecting a romance novel you should know this isn't that kind of book. It is certainly a love story, but told in the form of an historical biography. I didn't buy it out of any interest in LGBT studies, but rather for my interest in the Drake family (of which I'm a descendant). I found it to be well researched and a good read that will certainly have an important place in my family history collection.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2014In this very readable and engrossing book, Rachel Hope Cleves uses a wide variety of evidence to help us understand how Charity and Sylvia, a presumably lesbian couple in early 19th century Vermont, may have experienced their lives. I found particularly interesting her analysis of the order in which Charity and Sylvia added rooms to their house as they had the money to expand, and how the increase in privacy and eventually the greater capacity for entertaining made possible by those additional rooms changed their relationships with their families and the people they knew in town. Cleves uses genealogy not merely for the obligatory introduction on her subjects' ancestry but as a way of showing how deeply interconnected New England families were and how names were passed down as a legacy of friendship and respect. She looks at land documents and discusses what is implied when a woman instead of a man held title to the land, and at how poems and hymns could become a symbolic language in a culture where these texts were common currency. As a church organist I understand the latter very well and have no quibble with the premise though I’d like to see the evidence for “Blest Be the Tie that Binds” as a wedding hymn. In this day and age, it is more likely to show up at funerals. Cleves discusses clothing as well, especially the relationship between tailoring and plain sewing in the hierarchy of trades. I wonder if any hints in the letters might suggest masculine forms in Charity’s clothing – the wearing of spencers, “habits,” or habit-shirts, or later, pelisses or redingotes, for example. These were all widely worn by women and would not have caused comment yet might have helped express Charity’s masculine persona. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in women's history, in early 19th century New England, and in how an intelligent and imaginative use of many kinds of evidence can provide new ways into history.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2023Rachel Cleves presents a well researched exploration of the lives of Charity and Sylvia, two women who lived together in the 1800s, at a time when it is hard to believe two women could be living together in a committed relationship. The author delves into the nature of their relationship and describes what their lives could have been like. I thought Cleves would explain how the two women had to hide from the world, but evidence shows the contrary. It was eye-opening.
Top reviews from other countries
- awallac2Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and in-depth look at two women's lives. Well ...
Interesting and in-depth look at two women's lives. Well worth the read for anyone interested in Queer history in America.
- Thomas KelmReviewed in Canada on February 7, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Excellent service. No worries.
- Karen JensenReviewed in Australia on January 13, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read! The story illustrates that same sex couples ...
Fantastic read! The story illustrates that same sex couples have been around for a long time and they can have a stable & loving relationships.
- Anne MarieReviewed in Canada on September 2, 2016
4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing story of 2 women making it work a hundred ...
An amazing story of 2 women making it work a hundred years before it was even considered a possibility.