Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household [Paperback]

Thavolia Glymph (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0521703980 | ISBN-13: 978-0521703987 | Edition: First Edition (US) First Printing

This book views the plantation household as a site of production where competing visions of gender were wielded as weapons in class struggles between black and white women. Mistresses were powerful beings in the hierarchy of slavery rather than powerless victims of the same patriarchal system responsible for the oppression of the enslaved. Glymph challenges popular depictions of plantation mistresses as "friends" and "allies" of slaves and sheds light on the political importance of ostensible private struggles, and on the political agendas at work in framing the domestic as private and household relations as personal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The intellectually sophisticated and analytically acute Thavolia Glymph compels serious reconsideration of the transition in the relations of southern black and white women. Sensitive to the painful circumstances of both, she illuminates the political dimension of their daily interaction." -Eugene D. Genovese, author of Roll, Jordan, Roll and Mind of the Mater Class, with Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Cambridge University Press, 2005

"Combining the tools of an economic and social historian with a flair for robust cross-examination of historical sources, Thavolia Glymph has fashioned a study of women in the plantation household into a sweeping reinterpretation of the post-slavery South." -Barbara J. Fields, Columbia University

"Professor Glymph makes a powerful argument about relationships between black and white women in the slaveholding South. She explores the systematic, often brutal, use of violence by women of the planter elite against enslaved women and demolishes the idea that some form of gender solidarity trumped race and class in plantation households. This important book should find an appreciative audience among readers interested in African American, southern, women's, and Civil War-era history." -Gary W. Gallagher, John L. Nau III Professor of History, University of Virginia

"...this book is a significant contribution to the history of women, African Americans, and the larger social and economic transformation of the mid-19th century. Highly recommended." -Choice

"...Glymph has provided a new canvas for classic questions of enslavement, emancipation, and domestic spaces." -Jessica Millward, Journal of American History

"...a provocative and very well-written analysis of gender in the South before and after the Civil War. Glymph's prose is incisively written and framed within a rich historiographical context." -Jim Downs, Civil War Book Review

"Out of the House of Bondage presents a theoretically sophisticated, tightly argued challenge to the existing scholarship on black and white women in the nineteenth century South." -Frank Towers, Labour/Le Travail

Book Description

This book views the plantation household as a site of production where competing visions of gender were wielded as weapons in class struggles between black and white women. Mistresses were powerful beings in the hierarchy of slavery, and Glymph challenges previous depictions of mistresses as "friends" and "allies" of slaves.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition (US) First Printing edition (June 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521703980
• ISBN-13: 978-0521703987
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War > Women

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Quality reexamination of gender roles in the south. May 3, 2013

By Alex Novelli

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is great at what it does. It is a thoroughly academic examination of the roles of women in the slave and reconstruction south. If one is interested in this topic, it is a great read, but the title is very confusing, and the subject matter is narrow. It requires a good amount of historical understanding to really appreciate Glymph's scholarship, but if one has an interest in the topic and the necessary contextual understanding it is well worth the read.

2.0 out of 5 stars Is It Worth It? April 28, 2013

By Alexis Danielle

Format:Paperback

This book's topic of plantation wives and their relations with slaves is undoubtedly necessary to dialogue about. However, the author leaves little room for scholars to have a dialogue with her work. Although the personal accounts from plantation owners or their slaves were rare and intriguing, especially to a scholar, it did little for book. It's a dense read, with all of the footnotes at the bottom of the page. It's tough getting through one page when you have to keep looking up and down a page. Even if you ignore the footnotes, you will lose a critical piece of understanding. If you're looking for a strict and objective piece that provides more than a peer-reviewed article would, this is the book for you. However, that makes it difficult to even teach in prestigious college classrooms where students are looking to engage with the information. The author doesn't seem to explore the topic, but just regurgitate facts about the topic. Out of the House of Bondage is a very specific book for a very specific audience.

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots to Digest April 24, 2013

By April04

Format:Paperback

This book must be commended for its highly thorough research and impressive use of sources. It covers a little-known aspect of slavery: the relationship between white slave-owning women and their female slaves. This is a fascinating topic and Glymph does it justice. However, the book is extremely dense and often difficult to get through. For the average person (as in, someone who is not a scholar but is merely looking for an interesting read), the book's message is at times obscured by copious footnotes and often highly repetitive examples. If you can struggle through the density, you will learn a lot, otherwise the book might prove a bit exhausting.