In this new book, too, Ulrich draws engagingly on material objects and visual culture. Indian baskets, a linen tablecloth, a mahogany chest, and an unfinished stocking open for Ulrich histories that deepen readers’ understanding of daily life in early 19th century upper New England. Two of Ulrich’s earlier books- The Age of Homespun (Vintage, 2002) and Tangible Things (Oxford University Press, 2015)-broaden the kinds of evidence historians use by close analysis of different kinds of material culture. Ulrich’s books examine deep wells of social and cultural life in the communities she scrutinizes she has consistently been concerned with restoring “the forgotten web of social relations” and especially the ways that women’s voices, when recovered by historians, can function powerfully to “trouble the old stories” (32). Through her work we have much richer and more complex insights into women’s lives, gender relations, and community interactions. For over three decades Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s histories have transformed the ways we understand the lives of American women in the 17th through 19th centuries.
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