| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.3

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 282 words from this article are provided below; about 588 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Michael Bennett. Democratic Discourses: The Radical Abolition Movement and Antebellum American Literature. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 2005. Pp. x, 223. $24.95.
Continued scholarly interest in the American antislavery movement that preceded and accompanied the Civil War rests to a large degree on the abolitionists' engagement with issues of race, class, and gender that remain relevant today. Literary scholar Michael Bennett contends that the abolitionists, or rather a subset he calls "radical abolitionists," were the first Americans to envision "a future in which all kinds of people could live together in a truly democratic community" (p. 1). Prior to the Civil War, white men ruled households, controlled politics, and enjoyed economic liberty. Slaves, free African Americans, and white women suffered varying degrees of political, economic, sexual, and cultural oppression. Radical abolitionists, Bennett maintains, changed things. Through discourse they "created a space for the dramatically different world we live in today" (p. 2).	1
Bennett's major analytical technique pairs what he defines as conservative and radical antislavery figures (most of whom wrote fiction, nonfiction, or a combination thereof) to demonstrate how antislavery discourse influenced views. Chapters analyze how such discourse advanced "bodily democracy" (free association and sexuality), "gender democracy" (women's rights), "economic democracy," and "aesthetic democracy" (social realism). These chapters are thorough and insightful. By centering on contrasting figures, they might encourage a false dichotomy concerning antislavery perspectives. But Bennett is careful not to present his subjects in isolation. He indicates ways in which they agreed, and shows how they changed over time. The chapters on bodies, gender, and literary aesthetics are revealing. The chapter on abolitionist economic thought is less successful.	. . .

There are about 588 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.