Overview

Cultural views of femininity exerted a powerful influence on the courtroom arguments used to defend or condemn notable women on trial in nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century America. A. Cheree Carlson analyzes the colorful rhetorical strategies employed by lawyers and reporters in the trials of several women of varying historical stature, from the insanity trials of Mary Todd Lincoln and Lizzie Borden's trial for the brutal slaying of her father and stepmother, to lesser-known trials involving insanity, infidelity, murder, abortion, and interracial marriage. Carlson reveals clearly just how narrow was the line that women had to walk, since the same womanly virtues that were expected of them--passivity, frailty, and purity--could be turned against them at any time. With gripping retellings and incisive analysis, this book will appeal to historians, rhetoricians, feminist researchers, and anyone who enjoys courtroom drama.

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9780252034015

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Reviews

This enjoyable and readable book adds significantly to our understanding of the construction and embodiment of gender during the 1860s through the 1920s. A nuanced, complex mosaic of public conversations about gender. Martha Watson, author of Lives of Their Own: Rhetorical Dimensions in Autobiographies of Women Activists Written in a lively style and full of insightful analysis, The Crimes of Womanhood offers an important contribution to rhetorical scholarship. The book will make an excellent addition to courses exploring the intersections of rhetoric, gender, and/or the law in the U.S. I look forward to using it. Sara Hayden, professor of communication studies, University of Montana A provocative read. Carlson illustrates the ways that historical legal narratives--presented as factual, neutral, and objective--were, indeed, highly rhetorical and highly gendered. Her call for a rhetorical reframing of our narratives regarding women, both within the legal realm and outside it, is nothing less than call for expanding our cultural repertoire of the possibilities for successful femininity. Cindy L. Griffin, co-editor of Feminist Rhetorical Theories: A Reader

Author Information

A. Cheree Carlson is a professor in the School of Letters and Sciences at Arizona State University, where she is also affiliated with the women's studies program.

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