Choice Review

Ryan sets out to measure the steadfastness with which mid-19th-century Americans believed that woman's place was in the home. She examines records for New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco to demonstrate that women occupied city streets as prostitutes, promenaders, shoppers, rioters, friendly visiters, participants in political rallies, revelers at public balls, fundraisers at charitable fairs, marchers in ceremonial parades, and representations of symbolic figures such as Liberty and Peace in civic rituals. Ryan documents a growth in women's visibility over time, moving from the periphery of male-dominated events in 1825 to an evident presence by 1880. The author does not deny that considerable social pressure served to constrain women's mobility. The 19th-century mores required separate post office windows and ferry boat compartments and female skating ponds and lawns in public parks, and contributed to the development of such hearth-bound holiday celebrations as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yet this brief work, an outgrowth of four lectures delivered at Johns Hopkins University, offers some lively detail and provocative speculation regarding the tyranny of the domestic sphere for women. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -K. J. Blair, Central Washington University