In a comprehensive examination of rape and its prosecution in British America between 1700 and 1820; Sharon Block exposes the dynamics of sexual power on which colonial and early republican Anglo-American society was based. Block analyzes the legal; social; and cultural implications of more than nine hundred documented incidents of sexual coercion and hundreds more extralegal commentaries found in almanacs; newspapers; broadsides; and other print and manuscript sources. Highlighting the gap between reports of coerced sex and incidents that were publicly classified as rape; Block demonstrates that public definitions of rape were based less on what actually happened than on who was involved. She challenges conventional narratives that claim sexual relations between white women and black men became racially charged only in the late nineteenth century. Her analysis extends racial ties to rape back into the colonial period and beyond the boundaries of the southern slave-labor system. Early Americans' treatment of rape; Block argues; both enacted and helped to sustain the social; racial; gender; and political hierarchies of a New World and a new nation.
#1116039 in Books Carol Reardon 2003-02-24Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.18 x .74 x 6.02l; 1.01 #File Name: 0807854611296 pagesCarol ReardonCampaigns BattlefieldsGettysburgMilitary History
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. InformativeBy TawcatAlthough I have not finished this book; for what I have read it is great. I purchased this on recommendation by my journalist brother-in-law.22 of 22 people found the following review helpful. Truth Ever ElusiveBy Kerr SmithMs. Reardon's wonderful book underscores the challenge that we all face as we read and attempt to separate fact from fiction and fancy.This book is a case study in the mysterious confluence of objective history and subjective history. Ms Reardon deftly takes the reader from July 3; 1863; the day of Pickett's Charge; to the present day and shows how elusive the truth is. As an avid student of the American Civil War in particular and history in general;I learned three very important lessons from Ms Reardon. First; the thundering violence and confusion of battle make the search for the truth exceedingly difficult. The actual participants in Pickett's Charge were able to vividly and tellingly relate their emotions at the time. However; their reports of actual events and actions were understandably contradictory. Second; as Ms Reardon illuminates throughout the book; the careful reader must consider the possible motives of the author while reading the work. Ms Reardon demonstrates that the Virginia Historical Society was more interested in protecting state pride than searching for the truth. The numerous instances of conflicting accounts of this single day of the Civil War reminds me of Richard Nixon's resopnse to the question of how history will judge him : "It depends on who writes the history ". One can call Nixon's response cynical; but Ms Reardon reminds us that the wise reader will posses a healthy skepticism. Finally; when one pores through a Civil War book;or any book on warfare for that matter; the reader must understand that the neat maps of the terrain and the formations belie the utter confusion;terror; and violence inherent in battle. Ms Reardon won me over with her eye for the telling detail when she pointed out that the terrain prevented both Union and Confederate soldiers from a panaromic view of the battlefield.The rolling hills prevented the Union troops from seeing large parts of the charge. Meanwhile; a gentle ridge split the attacking Confederates in half. Ms Reardon ruefully notes that numerous historical accounts from both sides provide intimate details of things that were not visible from the participant's location. Ms Reardon quotes a grizzled veteran who summed it all up when he said;"Picketts Charge has been so grossly exaggerated and misrepresented as to give some color to the oft-repeated axiom that 'history is an agreed-upon lie'."0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Pickett's ChargeBy Jeffrey R CarlsonToo little history; but a good primer on why we will never fully understand nor comprehend precisely what happened here.
