The first woman in the republic : a cultural biography of Lydia Maria Child / by Carolyn L. Karcher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Karcher, Carolyn L., 1945-

Series:

New Americanists.

New Americanists

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Child, Lydia Maria, 1802-1880.

Child, Lydia Maria.

Women social reformers--United States--Biography.

Women social reformers.

Authors, American--19th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (844 p.)

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Taking its title from the accolade William Lloyd Garrison bestowed on Child - "she is the first woman in the republic" - this innovative cultural biography recreates the world as well as the life of a major nineteenth-century figure whose career encompassed issues central to American history. Carolyn L. Karcher captures the throes of a tumultuous era that saw the mass transfer of many Native tribes, ferocious mob violence against abolitionists and African American communities, bitter dissension among reformers over tactics and principles, a dramatic transformation in women's lives, a Civil War unprecedented not only for its carnage but also for its character as a liberation struggle, and a tragically aborted Reconstruction. She explores the key role Child played in shaping American culture at a formative moment in its development and reveals her impact on almost every facet of nineteenth-century letters. She also takes readers into the private life of a complex woman, riven by deep contradictions and remarkably honest about her feelings. This definitive biography restores to the public an eloquent writer and reformer who embodied the best of the American democratic heritage."--BOOK JACKET.

Contents:

Chronology

Prologue: A passion for books

The author of Hobomok

Rebels and "Rivals": self portraits of a conflicted young artist

The Juvenile Miscellany: the creation of an American children's literature

A marriage of true minds: espousing the Indian cause

Blighted prospects: Indian fiction and domestic reality

The Frugal Housewife: financial worries and domestic advice

Children's literature and antislavery: conservative medium, radical message

"The First Woman in the Republic": an antislavery baptism

An antislavery marriage: careers at cross purposes

The Condition of Women: double binds, unresolved conflicts

Schisms, personal and political

The National Anti-Slavery Standard: family newspaper of factional organ?

Letters From New York: the invention of a new literary genre

Sexuality and marriage in Fact and Fiction

The Progress of Religious Ideas: a "pilgrimage of penance"

Autumnal Leaves: reconsecrated partnerships, personal and political

The example of John Brown

Child's Civil War

Visions of a reconstructed America: The Freedmen's Book and A Romance of the Republic

A radical old age

Aspirations of the World

Afterword.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822398387

0822398389

OCLC:

674175033