The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson's White House

by John F. Marszalek

Book Overview

In The Petticoat Affair, prize-winning historian John F. Marszalek offers the first in--depth investigation of the earliest -- and perhaps greatest -- political sex scandal in American history. During Andrew Jackson's first term in office, Margaret Eaton, the wife of Secretary of State John Henry Eaton, was branded a loose woman for her unconventional public life. The brash, outgoing, and beautiful daughter of a Washington innkeeper, Margaret had...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807126349
• ISBN13: 9780807126349
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: LSU Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Superior

My students, who detest reading with a passion, invariably enjoy reading this book. Full of "good guys" and "bad guys" it forces them to choose a side, which makes it great for essay assignments.

Excellent Social History

This book is well-written and difficult to put down. The author did his research well. It is a good explanation of the Margaret Eaton Affair and of the social mores that women were expected to live by in the 1820s and 1830s. It is also a classic example of the theory that "men get their identity by what they do; women, by their family." Margaret Eaton could not escape that she was the daughter of a "tavern-keeper" and many of the slanders against her were merely based on the prejudices of the time concerning the stereotypical behavior of the daughters of tavern-keepers.

Fine treatment of an old scandal

This book is first a description of a political scandal in the 1820s and 1830s in which a President threw his administration into turmoil over a woman. Secondly, there is a fine treatment of the role women were expected to play in the 1800s and the reasons Margaret Eaton and Rachel Jackson did not fit in. It's a fine well written story, very worthwhile.