Gendered Strife and Confusion: The Political Culture of Reconstruction

by Laura F. Edwards

Exploring the gendered dimension of political conflicts, Laura Edwards links transformations in private and public life in the era following the Civil War. Ideas about men's and women's roles within households shaped the ways groups of southerners—elite and poor, whites and blacks, Democrats and Republicans—envisioned the public arena and their own places in it. By using those on the margins to define the center, Edwards demonstrates that Reconstruction was a complicated process of conflict and negotiation that lasted long beyond 1877 and involved all southerners and every aspect of life.

Genres: American History, History, Read For School

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

About the author

Laura Edwards is a professor of history at Duke University, where she teaches courses on women, gender, and law. Her research focuses on the same issues, with a particular emphasis on the nineteenth-century U.S. South.

Reviews

[Kent]

Interesting, well documented arguments. A dense read.