harmony 's review for:

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America by Rachel Hope Cleves

4.0

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This is an important addition to queer historical scholarship, and shows how civic mindedness created a sort of open closet possibility for women of the time. It's made possible through analysis of poetry, letters, and memoirs from the women and their friends and relatives, using important context of the language of the time and of the of the common literary metaphors and allusions. The almost obsessive self-abuse brought on by their religiosity was almost physically painful to hear about, but it's also important to understand. This was a fascinating read and a persuasive piece of scholarship.