Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880

by Mary P. Ryan and Professor Mary P. Ryan

Book Overview

On May 15, 1862, U.S. General Benjamin Butler, commander of occupied New Orleans, ordered that any woman who publicly insulted Union soldiers be subject to prosecution as a prostitute. Not all nineteenth-century women, Butler learned, felt their place was in the home. As his order implies, women were governed by an unwritten code of public conduct, appeared on public streets, spoke out on public issues, and were subjects of public policy. In "Women...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801844010
• ISBN13: 9780801844010
• Release Date: February 1992
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Incredibly well-written and insightful

Mary Ryan of Johns Hopkins is one of the foremost feminist scholars in the US and this is a wonderful example of her work. Ryan traces the role of women in the urban context of what Habermas termed 'the public sphere' from 1825-1880 and comes to some very surprising and insightful conclusions about the role of women. Highly recommend.