The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South [Paperback]

Catherine Clinton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 1984

This pioneering study of the much-mythologized Southern belle offers the first serious look at the lives of white women and their harsh and restricted place in the slave society before the Civil War. Drawing on the diaries, letters, and memoirs of hundreds of planter wives and daughters, Clinton sets before us in vivid detail the daily life of the plantation mistress and her ambiguous intermediary position in the hierarchy between slave and master.

"The Plantation Mistress challenges and reinterprets a host of issues related to the Old South. The result is a book that forces us to rethink some of our basic assumptions about two peculiar institutions -- the slave plantation and the nineteenth-century family. It approaches a familiar subject from a new angle, and as a result, permanently alters our understanding of the Old South and women's place in it.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Plantation Mistress challenges and reinterprets a host of issues related to the Old South. The result is a book that forces us to rethink some of our basic assumptions about two peculiar institutions -- the slave plantation and the nineteenth-century family. It approaches a familiar subject from a new angle, and as a result, permanently alters our understanding of the Old South and women's place in it."

Eric Foner, History Book Club Review

"Clinton has assembled many interesting quotations from old letters and diaries to support her belief that women in the antebellum South were generally overworked, often unhealthy, and little freer than their slaves."

Atlantic Monthly

"One can be grateful that the recent emphasis on the study of women's history has encouraged this much-needed work."

Christian Science Monitor

From the Inside Flap

This pioneering study of the much-mythologized Southern belle offers the first serious look at the lives of white women and their harsh and restricted place in the slave society before the Civil War. Drawing on the diaries, letters, and memoirs of hundreds of planter wives and daughters, Clinton sets before us in vivid detail the daily life of the plantation mistress and her ambiguous intermediary position in the hierarchy between slave and master.

"The Plantation Mistress challenges and reinterprets a host of issues related to the Old South. The result is a book that forces us to rethink some of our basic assumptions about two peculiar institutions -- the slave plantation and the nineteenth-century family. It approaches a familiar subject from a new angle, and as a result, permanently alters our understanding of the Old South and women's place in it.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 331 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (February 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394722531
• ISBN-13: 978-0394722535
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as Scholarly as I had hoped, February 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South (Paperback)

I read this book and found both good and bad points. First, I liked the writing style. The author kept my attention and had some interesting observations. Second, she used letters as primary source documents as the basis for the book.

The main problems I had with the book are that the author failed to write within a specific time frame and the book is one-sided. Ms. Clinton would make a statements about a women living in the one decade and then support the statement with a letter from a woman written fifty years later. Statistics based on sample groups also have the multiple year time gap problems. The time focus should be narrowed. I also believe that the author failed to find a "middle road." This book was too biased and obviously one-sided view for my taste. Granted, times were tough. But, the book had a continual "those poor, poor women" feel to it.

Overall, The Plantation Mistress was an interesting book. I personally just would never use it as a source for a history research project.

57 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Scarlett Myth Unveiled, July 4, 2000

By 

Connie Boone - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South (Paperback)

Catherine Clinton successfully parts the heavy drapes of Tara to reveal the truth behind the Scarlett myth created from the chimera of charming belles and courtly balls in the antebellum south. In The Plantation Mistress, the author skillfully reconstructs the realities facing a restricted and repressed class of women who have been historically eulogized by Hollywood and the popular press for over 150 years. The premise is simple: the leisure status of the planter's lady is a fairy tale told to spruce up the Lost Cause image. "The planter's wife was in charge not merely of the mansion but the entire spectrum of domestic operations throughout the estate, from food and clothing to the physical and spiritual care of both her white family and her husband's slaves." (Pg. 18)

With a writing style that effectively holds the reader captive, Ms Clinton also douses the romantic candle glow in the bedchamber to shine a more accurate spotlight on the relationships of men and women in this complex and euphemistic society. By artfully weaving contemporary observations such as -- "John Bernard, a British traveler, commented concerning southern women: `The one thing I did not approve of was the juvenile period at which they bloomed and decayed." Pg. 61 -- into the narrative, the author sculpts a dimensional profile of both gender and marital dynamics. Ms Clinton demonstrates that the view from a `lady's pedestal' was tainted by a dark cloud of ennui and the dismal fog of slavery.

A rich trove of letters, diaries and plantation records supports Ms. Clinton's scholarly conclusions without interfering in the textual flow. She also manages the pace of the material with a precision that unfolds each element eloquently and efficiently. I could not put this enlightening book down, as it is more than a treatment of women in the south. It is also a compendium of thought provoking issues, which encompass the horror of slavery as well as the inequality for women in the North.

The highest compliment that I can pay is that The Plantation Mistress did not sate my curiosity, but instead expanded my curiosity to search more thoroughly the intriguing directions pointed out by Ms. Clinton. However, I am positive that the next time I watch Scarlett threaten Miz Ellen's portieres, I will applaud her tenacity for taking charge of her life instead of thinking `the green dress is coming'. The Plantation Mistress in fact convinces me that an energetic, intelligent woman like Scarlett had few options in the old South for achieving any goal except by using subterfuge and manipulation. After reading The Plantation Mistress I want to compliment Scarlett for her determination, instead of slapping her for being a selfish brat.

41 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, October 23, 2005

By 

TheWoz (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South (Paperback)

First, let me state that I have read hundreds of books and have never written a bad review. This book is an exception.

I purchased this book hoping to read facts regarding women on plantations. I was disppointed as this book is based mainly on the writer's view versus historical facts. The book covers the period of 1780-1835. However, the author on multiple occasions refers to the Civil War period. Too much "bouncing" around throughout the years.

Yes, she does quote portions of historical letters but I felt these were used most likely out of context in order to support the writer's point of view without actual facts cited.

The writer's negativity toward other books written on plantation mistresses and their authors, which she refers to frequently in the book, are deplorable. Why mention them at all. It only makes one want to read the books that she things so little of.

Harsh...yes perhaps this review is harsh. Bottom line, I read the book and would not recommend it as good factual reading.