This text is a collection of documents covering women’s experiences in the family, economy, and society from the colonial era to 1900, with attention to distinctions of class, race, and religion. The collection consists of excerpts from a wide variety of primary sources. The book should be of interest as a core text or supplement for students taking a junior course in women’s history; it is occasionally appropriate as a supplement for students taking a US History Su… More >>
Early American Women: A Documentary History, 1600-1900
This book arrived very quickly, well before the last possible arrival date. However, it has many more highlight markings and writing in it than I had expected. All text is still readable, it’s just somewhat distracting.
Rating: 4 / 5
I read this book for my first women’s studies course in college. The documents presented here provide interesting illustrations of women’s lives and work and of ideas and conventions about women’s roles in American society. It is a valuable resource for academics and teachers, and an interesting read for everyone else.
Rating: 5 / 5
Its a shame that in many history classes, half of the human experience is virtually ignored. This is even more apparent in terms of anthologies of documents. Nancy Woloch has made an outstanding contribution in correcting this in her _Early American Women_.
The book is marvelous in the wide variety of documents it contains. There is census data from Spanish California, accounts of Iroquois women in government, oral histories of slaves (and mistresses), and some really fabulous material on the 19th century sufferage movement. The voices of women from all social classes can be heard here, from the colonial era to the Progressive period. It is very well rounded, and I will certainly be including it as a part of my curriculum.
The only short-coming I find in the book is its lack of statistical and visual documents. With this minor criticism said, I highly recommend this book to educators, especially those in the discipline of history.
Rating: 5 / 5