Free Hearts and Free Homes: Gender and American Antislavery Politics

I loved this book! It really opened my eyes about the way women were able to act politically in an age when they could not vote. Pierson tells great stories about the way reformers tried to change the system. He looks at many newspaper and fictional sources, showing us how the stories that people read every day shaped their perceptions of family, and the roles of men and women. These perceptions about northern life also shaped the way people looked at slavery, as a system to be abolished. The section on Jessie Benton Fremont was great -- a fantastic lady that I had never heard of -- but who could have been first lady. This book is also thoroughly researched, with a wide-ranging source base that shows us innovative ways to interpet evidence about the past.

A clear and comprehensive account of how political parties are always out to get your vote by pushing your hottest buttons. This book shows how northern politicians before the Civil War tried to win over voters by appealing to their best and worst instincts about what men and women ought to be doing and how families should work. The section on Mary Todd Lincoln and the 1860 campaign is great, and the Democrats are so piggish! It's scholarly, but also funny at times.