This is a very readable social history of women's experience in New England in the period after the Revolutionary War but before the heyday of the Industrial Revolution. I think Cott does a good job of interpreting women's lives within the context of the period, rather than measuring them against later 20th century values when the book was written. Despite the seemly fixed domestic sphere that women operated in, it was a time of change. It is this change, that I was particularly interested in. ( )

Not "necessary" reading, but an interesting read about female friendships and bonds in American history. Tackles the tension and possible readings of "womanhood" in colonial New England. ( )