LOVE AND POWER IN THE 19TH CENTURY: THE MARRIAGE OF VIOLET BLAIR [Hardcover]

VIRGINIA LAAS (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

The fascinating biography of an unusual 54-year marriage in the Gilded Age examines the dynamic flow of power, control, and love between Washington blue blood Violet Blair and New Orleans attorney Albert Janin. Drawing on abundant documentary evidence, author Virginia Laas ties this compelling story to broader themes of courtship behavior, domesticity, gender roles, extended family bonds, elitism, and societal stereotyping.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Violet Blair was born in 1848 to a prominent Washington political clan, whose family home on Washington's Lafayette Square, Blair House, is now the president's guest house for visiting heads of state. In this concise study, Laas, a historian and editor of Wartime Washington, a collection of Civil War letters written by Violet's aunt Elizabeth Blair Lee, uses Violet's extensive letters and diaries to tell the story of her unconventional 54-year marriage to Albert Janin. Violet grew up in an era when most women defined themselves as wives and mothers, submissive to and dependent upon men. But Violet was hardly typical. By her choice, she and Albert did not regularly live together; and she used her inherited wealth to provide for her own financial support. Although they were devoted to each other, their marriage was truly a partnership in which each retained practical autonomy while remaining emotionally dependent upon the other. An interesting portrait of a unique Gilded Age marriage, the book fails only by trying too hard to impose a feminist perspective that strips Blair of her uniqueness; in doing so, it downplays her profound (in fact, reactionary) political and social conservatism, and forces her into the mold of icon for women's rights, a social movement for which she evinced little support during her lifetime. 25 b&w photos.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 169 pages
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557285055
• ISBN-13: 978-1557285058
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,298,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impeccable Scholarship, Captivating Narrative, September 11, 2008

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Geographer (Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Love and Power in the Nineteenth Century: The Marriage of Violet Blair (Paperback)

The depth of scholarship displayed by this book is inspiring. The author conducted archival research in leading 19th century historical collections, including the Library of Congress, the Huntington, and the Harvey Firestone Library at Princeton. Moreover, the extensive endnotes included in the book make it an extremely useful work for other scholars interested in this time period or the extended Blair-Janin families.

Such scholarship might produce a stuffy volume, but Laas has wrought a captivating narrative of an unusual 19th century marriage that sheds new light on the position of women in society and the lives of the social elite. Bottom line... this book is a good read as well as a valuable addition to American history.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Marriage of Violet Blair Was in Vain, April 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: LOVE AND POWER IN THE 19TH CENTURY: THE MARRIAGE OF VIOLET BLAIR (Hardcover)

I note that 45 pages of the 169 pages of "Love and Power" are comprised of notes and a bibliography, although there is no index. The information on Miss Blair's life is obviously well-researched and well-documented. However, the merit of the time spent by Biographer/Historian Laas and the merit of the time and money spent by the tax-funded University of Arkansas press to edit and publish such a book is questionable. The book is about the life of a very egocentric, shallow-minded and superficial woman, Violet Blair, whose alleged "independence" was derived from having inherited enough wealth from her parents to enable her to maintain her "independence," therefore keeping her husband at a distance. This perhaps served the interests of both Miss Blair and her husband Mr. Janus, who apparently didn't enjoy the company of each other for very long periods of time, for obvious reasons, as I myself would have been bored and annoyed to have had to spend any amount of time with either one of these two individuals.

Once again, I fail to see that Miss Blair's life merits the time and money spent to record it, as I fail to see any real contribution this individual has made to society or to history. Her primary goal in life seems to have been maintaining the superficial facade so typical of the dilettante "class" of people that she aligned herself with. The DAR and similar groups, which the Blair family aligned themselves with, are based solely on "family lineage," and have no real value in society other than to perpetuate a barbaric code of "snob appeal" based on "whose ancestors got here first." The native-Ameicans, of course, got here first, and the other Americans who arrived before, during, and after the Blair family did most of the work that made America the nation that it is, and did most of the work that enabled Violet Blair and others like her to enjoy those comforts and privileges that she enjoyed and to maintain an aire of exclusiveness and snobbery.