REFORMING MEN AND WOMEN

a truly magnificent book … a leap forward”

“a magnificent book”

“Here is truly gendered history, one that takes women and men equally seriously as subjects. Reforming Men and Women will raise the bar for all future studies of social activism, whether in the antebellum or any other era. This is a truly magnificent book, one that provides a leap forward not only in the history of the antebellum era but also in the analysis of gender relations and conventions.” 

— Nancy Hewitt, Professor of History at Rutgers University and author of Radical Friend

“exciting and creative”

“Bruce Dorsey’s Reforming Men and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City is an exciting and creative examination of reform activity in the early nineteenth century…. Dorsey brilliantly demonstrates the tremendous impact of gender on social issues such as slavery, temperance, poverty, and immigration, and just how deeply it affected the lives of men and women in the antebellum city.” 

— Erica Armstrong Dunbar, National Book Award Finalist author of Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

“complex, subtle, and ultimately convincing”

“The publication of Reforming Men and Women marks an important advance in the historiography of American gender history…. The arguments here are complex, subtle, and ultimately convincing…. What makes all this work so well is Dorsey’s fine prose.” 

— Amy S. Greenberg, prize-winning author of A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico