This enthralling work of scholarship strips away those abstractions to reveal the hidden -- and not always stoic -- face of the "goodwives" of colonial America. In these pages we encounter the awesome burdens -- and the considerable power -- of a New England housewife's domestic life and witness her occasional forays into the world of men. We see her borrowing from her neighbors, loving her husband, raising -- and, all too often, mourning -- her children, and even attaining fame as a heroine of frontier conflicts or notoriety as a murderess. Painstakingly researched, lively with scandal and homely detail, Good Wives is history at its best.
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Review
"[Ulrich] makes a modern reader understand what it would have been like to have been born female in early New England...a truly remarkable achievement." -- Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University
A gravestone in northern New England proclaims that a woman was "Eminent for Holiness...Prudence, Sincerity...Meakness...Weanedness From ye World...Publick-Spiritedness ...Faithfulness & Charity."
"A major addition to our historical understanding of women in colonial New England...a path-breaking depiction of wives and mothers." -- Kathryn Kish Sklar, S.U.N.Y., Binghamton
A gravestone in northern New England proclaims that a woman was "Eminent for Holiness...Prudence, Sincerity...Meakness...Weanedness From ye World...Publick-Spiritedness ...Faithfulness & Charity."
"A major addition to our historical understanding of women in colonial New England...a path-breaking depiction of wives and mothers." -- Kathryn Kish Sklar, S.U.N.Y., Binghamton
From the Back Cover
"[Ulrich] makes a modern reader understand what it would have been like to have been born female in early New England...a truly remarkable achievement." -- Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University
A gravestone in northern New England proclaims that a woman was "Eminent for Holiness...Prudence, Sincerity...Meakness...Weanedness From ye World...Publick-Spiritedness ...Faithfulness & Charity."
"A major addition to our historical understanding of women in colonial New England...a path-breaking depiction of wives and mothers." -- Kathryn Kish Sklar, S.U.N.Y., Binghamton
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
BY ENGLISH TRADITION, a woman's environment was the family dwelling and the yard or yards surrounding it. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
BY ENGLISH TRADITION, a woman's environment was the family dwelling and the yard or yards surrounding it. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Pots and pans" history. So that's what this stuff is called. If that is supposed to diminish it, allow me to suggest that nothing could be further from the truth.
Nothing is more controversial in our society today than "woman's place," and no where is it more controversial than among women. (Any email list will bear this out.)
But what was it like for the women who were the founders of this country? How often do we even think about how they lived, unless we happen to visit one of the burgeoning historical communities multiplying across the country?
It was work, and it was hard work. Women were at home, and they were at home for a reason. Even getting to church was a major endeavor, and one they fought for, for it was women who built many of the major American congregations thriving today.
Their relationships with each other sustained them, and also were likely to pose the most threat, for women could make or break the reputations of one another, upon which survival depended.
Childbirth, pre, post and in between, determined the rhythm of life for generations of women. There were many births, and many of them did not live to adulthood. A woman who was able to nurture many children to see her grandchildren and great-grandchildren had accomplished a great deal, and was honored accordingly.
They had to know and understand the rhythms of nature and the timing of how to use an oven they could stand in and work with its heat as it coursed over the length of a day. There were no timers. There were no temperature regulators. There certainly were no microwave ovens or dish washers or washing machines.
They made medical tinctures as well as food, for doctors were few and far between and if they couldn't nurse their loved ones to health, they lost them more often than not.
They acted as "Deputy Husbands," representing their husbands in their livelihood, not in their own right, but as stand-ins based on the status of their husbands. It was power, even if not their own.
Well researched, thoroughly documented, well written and a very pleasant read, this book will allow us all to count our blessings -- and honor our foremothers.
...geminiwalker
Format:Paperback
This was fabulous! The author clearly does NOT hate Puritans. She is objective, insightful. It's a treasure!
Format:Paperback
I am very interested in finding out about colonial American women. This book didn't disappoint as far as facts. The author takes great pains to mention as much as she can about the women she's writing about. My only quibble with the book would be sometimes when the author introduces some facts, she would just leave the facts hanging there. There would be interesting tibits mentioned about a particular woman, then that tibit would be left and the author would go one to discuss something else.
Still, overall this book is very enlightening about how women lived back in colonial times.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not Impressed
I am a senior in college majoring in history and I just finished writing a paper about this book for a college class, and after reading the other reviews for it here I feel I... Read more
Published on Feb 23 2004 by Steve
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dated but a great place to start.
Ulrich succeeds in bringing to life the obscure and the mundane in a manner that intrigues and entertains. Read more
Published on Jun 16 2002 by T. Mazerolle
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brings to life a neglected part of American history
Good Wives sheds an illuminating light on the lives of early American women in New England. Ulrich does a great job in proving that these women's lives were far from static and... Read more
Published on May 5 2002 by Daniel Jolley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Involves you like a novel
I was also required to read this in college--last year in fact--for a seminar on Colonial American society. I was not able to finish it in the week we were given to read it... Read more
Published on Oct 21 2000 by "gaios33"
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very thought-provoking book!
This is an excellent book that will really make you rethink the history you've been taught. As another reviewer put it, half the population was left out of history! Read more
Published on Nov 28 1999 by little-earthquakes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still a Favorite after 10 years!!
I was required to read this book in college. To note that I kept it, and have re-read it many times tells you what a service Ulrich has done with this material. Read more
Published on Oct 23 1999 by Dawn A. Rouse Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Required reading for anyone interested in American history
How can any history can be written as though 50% of the population doesn't exist? This book gives a clear idea of what that other 50% was doing while the others were becoming... Read more
Published on Jun 20 1998
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