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Author:

Shields, Johanna Nicol.

Title:

Freedom in a slave society : stories from the antebellum South / Johanna Nicol Shields.

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press,

Copyright Date:

2012

Description:

xxiii, 318 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.

Subject:

Southern States--Intellectual life--19th century.
American literature--Southern States--History and criticism.
Authors, American--Southern States--Political and social views.
Politics and literature--Southern States--History--19th century.
Whites--Southern States--History--History--19th century.
Liberty in literature.
Slavery in literature.
HISTORY / United States / 19th Century.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Regarding a 'weird utopia'; Part I. The Origins of Individual Freedom: 2. Self-making in southwestern towns; 3. The domestic foundations of self-determination; 4. The voluntary bonds of friendship; Part II. Writing Freedom, with Slaves: 5. Southwestern histories for a divided market; 6. Slave characters and the problem of human nature; Part III. The Crisis of the Rising South: 7. Slavery and political trust; 8. Self-determination and slavery in conflict.

Summary:

"Before the Civil War, most Southern white people were as strongly committed to freedom for their kind as to slavery for African Americans. This study views that tragic reality through the lens of eight authors - representatives of a South that seemed, to them, destined for greatness but was, we know, on the brink of destruction. Exceptionally able and ambitious, these men and women won repute among the educated middle classes in the Southwest, South and the nation, even amid sectional tensions. Although they sometimes described liberty in the abstract, more often these authors discussed its practical significance: what it meant for people to make life's important choices freely and to be responsible for the results. They publicly insisted that freedom caused progress, but hidden doubts clouded this optimistic vision. Ultimately, their association with the oppression of slavery dimmed their hopes for human improvement, and fear distorted their responses to the sectional crisis"-- Provided by publisher.

Series:

Cambridge studies on the American South

ISBN:

1107013372 (hardback)
9781107013377 (hardback)

OCLC:

(OCoLC)772109802

LCCN:

2012003302

Locations:

USUX851 -- Iowa State University - Parks Library (Ames)

UXAX826 -- St. Ambrose University Library (Davenport)