You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 166 words from this article are provided below; about 354 words remain.
 		 
If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, 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.

If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:
• Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• 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 Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.

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 Journal of American History, 90.2 | The History Cooperative
90.2  
Journals link Search link Partners link Information link
September, 2003
Previous
Table of Contents
Next
The Journal of American History

Table of Contents
List journal issues
Home
Get a printer-friendly version of this page
 
 


Book Review

"O Sisters Ain't You Happy?": Gender, Family, and Community among the Harvard and Shirley Shakers, 1781–1918. By Suzanne R. Thurman. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2002. xiv, 262 pp. Cloth, $39.95, ISBN 0-8156-2906-0. Paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-8156-2934-6.)
In this book, Suzanne R. Thurman promises "a comprehensive account of the founding, 'golden years,' and eventual demise of [the Shaker villages at] Harvard and Shirley, Massachusetts," an account focused on gender, family, and community. Those themes, she asserts, "highlight key ideas of Shakerism and help explain what made the Believers similar to their neighbors as well as what set them apart" (p. 2). Although this is not new ground, Thurman has produced a useful study that sheds light on the compromises the Shakers made in their search for a perfect life. What is less persuasive is her insistence on the existence of an "androgynous ideal" that "allowed [Shaker] women and men to move beyond expected roles" (p. 5), resulting in "complete female empowerment" (p. 56). . . .
There are about 354 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.