It's time for some book recommendations. I read so many good books in 2024, so one would think it would be hard to choose just a few to recommend. But the books we're about to discuss hit so perfectly, there was no doubt they would be my recommendations. Let's go.
Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia - Kathleen M. Brown
I have no idea where to begin with this one because there's just so much goodness here. I had known about this book for a long time and wow! I wish I had read it so much sooner. I'm going to hit on some of the overarching themes and interesting touchpoints here, but there's also references to it in Traveler Beware.
Good Wives examines racism and slavery through the lens of gender and exposes how ideals of masculinity evolved into a society founded on racism and patriarchy. Brown opens her narrative by pointing out that labels like 'good wife' and 'nasty wench' originally were used to differentiate between middle class women and poor women suspected of sexual activity deemed inappropriate. Those meanings evolved throughout the 17th century, essentially landing on 'wenches' being used to describe enslaved Black women and 18th century women aiming beyond 'good wife' to become 'plantation mistress.' As such, white women in the Virginia colony personified the privilege and virtues associated with being a woman, while women of African descent became perceived as inherently evil and sexually lustful.
One of the most frustrating parts of this book is reading about the decline in women's power and autonomy moving into the 18th century. English women throughout history had been active participants in their local economies and sometimes beyond. They would travel to market to buy household goods and sell what they produced. Amongst the stalls of grain, dairy products, vegetable, and beer, women would socialize with neighbors and strangers alike. They were also likely to protest rising food costs, demand lower rents, and petition for increased access to land. And men started to feel their authority being threatened.
Which is quite short-sighted given the value women brought to their household economies. They made and sold cheese and butter and could generate reasonable income from the sale of produce. Maryland tobacco farms demonstrate just how impactful women were. Tobacco farms with wives and children on hand produced more tobacco, whether because of their contribution to domestic work or agricultural work (and likely a combination of both.) The additional money brought into these farms was used to purchase goods they could not make themselves - gunpowder, nails, salt, and some foodstuffs.
Eventually, men would shift the narrative of these important contributions of women and instead portray the economic and political submission of women as virtuous, in an effort to keep women closer to home.
But women are nothing if not enterprising and Brown writes of the ways women used courtship and reproductive control to express power. Elite women especially could use courtship to have some agency over the trajectory of their lives. Throughout the courtship process families' reputations and finances were closely assessed, so parents and friends worked together to offer advice and serve as the bearer of bad news to help soften rejection. A young woman could persuade her father to reject a suitor, or she herself could reject a potential husband, "shattering fragile egos and blasting family pretensions." [Brown, p. 249] Brown uses the example of Lucy Burwell who rejected her suitor, Francis Nicholason. Lucy's father backed her up because her choice was aligned with his own political aspirations.
While all of these courtship power dynamics may have been in play in England, in the new and not-quite-solidified social structure of the colonies, they took on even greater implications. Young men felt unusually vulnerable as women assessed them. These women could appeal to her parents to accept a potential husband. Or she could sabotage a suitor with her own apathy or animosity. Women knew they could be persuasive as they assessed suitors' financial worth, family lineage, and future economic security. It was here that young women had a brief moment where the balance of power shifted for her.
Elite women had far more potential for leveraging some agency over their own lives than women in lower classes, but even among the women (enslaved, free, black, white) who performed much of the manual labor of the colonies, there was a possibility of control through their sexual activities. Brown offers the example of Thomas Davis who claimed that "after having the 'use' of Ann Clark once, she refused his second attempt saying, 'she would not [,] but three weekes hence she might better doe it.'" [Brown, p. 99] Brown considers that Clark may have been monitoring her menstrual cycle and thus avoiding pregnancy. Or she may have been spacing her sexual activity so she could better identify the father if she became pregnant.
These are just some of the ways women were able to express their power. And Brown has many, many more examples spanning enslaved women to elite women. And through it all, men started to feel increasingly frustrated that they could not entirely dominate the women in their lives. This book is full of examples of how evolving customs and laws tightened their grip on women's participation in society. Through this evolution of control, power structures would become increasingly dependent upon race. An early example of race-based decisionmaking is seen in tax policies, when white women's labor became tax exempt, but the labor of Black women, whether free or enslaved, was taxed. Starting in 1662, children born to enslaved Black women were considered, by law, enslaved. With time white Virginians came to believe that being enslaved was a natural outcome of being Black.
And then...Bacon's Rebellion explodes in 1676. I love how detailed Brown gets about the involvement of women in the political machinations surrounding Bacon's Rebellion, which really was a powder keg created by evolving ideals of masculinity, guns, race, and democracy. This part really needs to be its own suite of content, so I'll get to work on that.
For now, Kathleen Brown sums things up eloquently.
By the early 18th c., Virginia's political system had achieved a stability built on the division of white and black laborers, the recognition of all white men as potential patriarchs, and an incipient Anglo-Virginian identity that rested precariously upon the fragile bonds uniting white men. Unrest within colonial society had been stilled, albeit temporarily, through the masculinization of political culture, the feminization and marginalization of speech offenses, and the racialization of bound labor. [Brown p. 186]
Katherine - Anya Seton
Next up, we have a delicious piece of historical fiction set in medieval England during the tumultuous reigns of Edward III, Richard II, and eventually Henry IV. Anya Seton writes a dazzling tale of the love affair between Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and the third surviving son of Edward III. This book was so vivid, I visualized Seton's fictionalized account while reading Helen Castor's non-fiction history The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV.
Katherine is the fictional account of Katherine de Roet (1349 - 1403) who was the daughter of a knight from Hainault. She and her sister both would rise in service to the royal court. Katherine's sister Philippa was a lady in waiting for Queen Philippa, wife of the formidable Edward III. (Queen Philippa was likely formidable in her own right.) Philippa Roet would marry Geoffrey Chaucer who was in service to the king. Katherine would marry Sir Hugh Swynford and have two children with him, Thomas and Blanche. But it was after his death that Katherine's connections to the court would change her life in astounding ways.
Seton's account follows Katherine through her long-time love affair with John of Gaunt. We see her as a loyal governess to John's children with his first wife Blanche and later as the mother of four children with John. They suffer a long separation following the Peasants Revolt in 1381 and Seton's presentation of the revolt and continuing violence and unrest is beyond gripping. I felt physically exhausted after some of the most compelling scenes. I'm not giving anything away to tell you that eventually John and Katherine reunite, marry, and legitimize the children they have together, thus founding the House of Lancaster.
The foreword alone is a tantalizing glimpse of the past, as Seton laments the challenges she had finding materials in the archives following "the war." Katherine has been in continuous publication since 1954 and still generates significant and well-deserved praise.
Deep Water: The World in the Ocean - James Bradley
Bradley is a novelist and a poet and it shows. I put off reading Deep Water for a long time even though people whose work I respect were raving about the book. I don't know why I thought it wasn't for me because this book absolutely was for me. Every single word.
Bradley hits all my sweet spots gathering great minds in history, philosophy, science, and even the arts to demonstrate how humanity is truly shaped by the oceans. He seamlessly and beautifully presents complex connections between the creation of the oceans, life with the oceans, migration patterns, human impacts on the health and sustainability of the oceans and their implications for the future. (Sadly, that part isn't pretty.)
But you all come here for the history and this book is chock full of it. Bradley goes way back to the birth and evolution of the oceans and ocean life, making all the deep chemistry and biology crystal clear. He then moves the story forward outlining human development, migration patterns, and the growth of exploration, global trade, and recreation. History lovers will relish every word.
He is very clear about the tragic effects of colonialism and the racism that rotted society. One example comes from 18th century swimming. Around this time Africans, Indigenous Australians, and Native Americans were all swimming using an overarm crawl. Europeans, however, had begun using the breastroke, which was perceived as more scientific and civilized. They called it "white swimming."
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There's been so much good reading, but even amongst so much goodness, these three books stood out. If you've already read them, let me know what you thought about them. And if you read them after learning about them here, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
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Brown, Kathleen M. Good Wives, Nasty Wenches & Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia. University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
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Following are links to the books discussed in this article. I link to Bookshop.org; however, I encourage folks to shop at their local bookseller, use their public libraries, or purchase their books wherever makes sense for them.
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