Reviewed by:

• Marriage on the Border: Love, Mutuality, and Divorce in the Upper South during the Civil War by Allison Dorothy Fredette
• Catherine A. Jones

Moments of rupture, whether of marriages or nations, are also moments of revelation. This insight guides Allison Dorothy Fredette's compelling portrait of marriage in the upper border South from the 1850s through the 1870s. Through careful analysis of divorce records, private writings, and prescriptive literature, Fredette traces regional variation in white southerners' expectations of marriage while raising intriguing questions about how those views informed sectional identities. By foregrounding marriage in her investigation of regional identity, Fredette not only enriches scholarship on the border South but also shows how examining domestic life can illuminate moments of political upheaval. Across seven chronologically organized chapters, Fredette examines the war's impact on marriage while demonstrating the importance of antebellum practices in shaping postwar patterns. Specifically, Fredette argues that the relatively high rates of divorce in West Virginia and Kentucky reflected distinctive border ideals that distinguished the region before and after the Civil War. [End Page 344]

Characterizing regional attitudes toward marriage is a formidable task, which Fredette ably tackles through a thoughtfully constructed comparative study. Her selection of counties (two in Kentucky, one in West Virginia, and three in Virginia) enables her to investigate how geography, wartime loyalties, and degree of investment in chattel slavery intersected with regional attitudes toward marriage. Fredette emphasizes the hybridity of the border South, arguing that neither the patriarchalism of the planter South nor the northern ideology of separate spheres governed households in the region. Instead, she shows that a range of values, including mutuality (which she characterizes as an expectation of marital cooperation) and contractualism (which cast marriage as a revocable arrangement), made white border southerners more amenable to divorce than their eastern counterparts. Although not primarily concerned with explaining why these values gained traction in western Virginia and Kentucky, Fredette's narrative points to the influence of circulating discourses about gender and marriage as well as the political economy of households in the border South. Her argument that geography competed with slavery in shaping white border southerners' attitudes toward domestic order invites further research into when and by what mechanisms geographic proximity translated into influence.

As Fredette acknowledges, divorce records are rich but tricky sources for scholars seeking insight into personal values. In an era when the appearance of cooperation between couples could sink a divorce petition, courts obliged petitioners to highlight fault. Fredette judiciously navigates the records' ambiguities by employing statistical and discursive analysis to establish regional patterns while highlighting the particularities of individual relationships with vivid anecdotes mined from the filings. The compelling final chapter, examining how working-class women worked with, and often around, the law to shape marriage practices, identifies a rich avenue for further research. Other scholars might complement Fredette's research by examining church discipline records for insight into how women used institutions outside the law to shape marriage.

Building on thirty years of gendered analysis of the Civil War, Fredette's research provides new insight into the connections among slavery, household order, and secession. She demonstrates that distinctive views of marriage were critical to defining border Unionism. Similarly, she highlights the importance of region in shaping the war's consequences for white women. Given the importance of divorce as a tool for women seeking greater control over their lives in the nineteenth century, the contrast between the postwar surge in successful divorce petitions in West Virginia and the relative rarity of divorce in Virginia is striking. It underscores how local legal regimes could amplify or constrain the war's disruptions to household order. Marriage on the Border: Love, Mutuality, and Divorce in the Upper South during the Civil War reminds us once again that we cannot understand the consequences of the war without fully integrating women into its history. [End Page 345]

审核人：

• 边界婚姻：内战期间上南地区的爱，相互和离婚，艾莉森·多萝西·弗雷德特（Allison Dorothy Fredette）
• 凯瑟琳·琼斯

破裂的时刻，无论是婚姻还是民族，都是启示的时刻。这一见解指导了艾莉森·多萝西·弗雷迪特（Allison Dorothy Fredette）从1850年代到1870年代在南部边界南部的引人注目的婚姻肖像。通过对离婚记录，私人著作和规范性文献的仔细分析，弗雷德特追溯了白人南方人对婚姻的期望的地区差异，同时提出了一些有趣的问题，即这些观点如何影响部门身份。弗雷迪特（Fredette）在研究区域身份的过程中着重婚姻，不仅丰富了南部边界的学术知识，而且还展示了如何审视家庭生活可以照亮政治动荡的时刻。在按时间顺序排列的七个章节中，Fredette考察了这场战争。对婚姻的影响，同时展示了战前习俗在塑造战后格局中的重要性。特别是，弗雷德里特（Fredette）认为，西弗吉尼亚州和肯塔基州的离婚率相对较高，反映了独特的边界理想，使内战前后该地区与众不同。[结束页344]

表征区域对婚姻的态度是一项艰巨的任务，弗雷德里特通过精心构建的比较研究来巧妙地解决这一问题。她选择的县（肯塔基州的两个县，西弗吉尼亚州的一个县和弗吉尼亚州的三个县）使她能够调查地理，战时的忠诚度以及对动产奴隶制的投资程度如何与区域对婚姻的态度相交。弗雷德特（Fredette）强调南部边境的混杂性，认为南部种植者的父权制和北部地区的独立意识形态都无法控制该地区的家庭。相反，她展示了一系列价值观，包括相互关系（她将其描述为对婚姻合作的期望）和契约主义（将婚姻视为可撤销的安排），使白人边境的南方人比东方人更愿意离婚。尽管弗雷特特的叙述主要不是为了解释为什么这些价值观在弗吉尼亚州西部和肯塔基州广受人们的关注，但他的叙述指出了关于性别和婚姻以及南部边境家庭政治经济的流言dis语的影响。她关于地理与奴隶制相竞争，塑造了白人边境南部人对国内秩序的态度的论点，引起了人们对地理接近性何时以及通过何种机制转化为影响力的进一步研究。的叙述指出了关于性别和婚姻以及南部边界家庭的政治经济的流传性话语的影响。她关于地理与奴隶制相竞争，形成了白人边境南部人对国内秩序的态度的论点，引起了人们对地理接近性何时以及通过何种机制转化为影响力的进一步研究。的叙述指出了关于性别和婚姻以及南部边界家庭的政治经济的流传性话语的影响。她关于地理与奴隶制相竞争，塑造了白人边境南部人对国内秩序的态度的论点，引起了人们对地理接近性何时以及通过何种机制转化为影响力的进一步研究。

正如弗雷德特（Fredette）所承认的那样，离婚记录对于寻求洞察个人价值的学者来说是丰富而棘手的资料。在当今时代，夫妻之间的合作似乎可以使离婚请愿书化为乌有，法院迫使请愿人强调过错。弗雷德特（Fredette）通过运用统计和话语分析来建立区域模式，同时通过从档案中提取的生动轶事突出个人关系的特殊性，明智地处理了记录的含糊之处。引人入胜的最后一章探讨了工人阶级妇女如何与法律共同制定婚姻习惯，并经常在法律周围制定法律，这为进一步研究确定了丰富的途径。其他学者可能会补充Fredette'

在对内战进行30年性别分析的基础上，弗雷德特（Fredette）的研究为奴隶制，家庭秩序和分裂国家之间的联系提供了新的见解。她证明了独特的婚姻观对于界定边界联合主义至关重要。同样，她强调了区域在塑造战争对白人妇女的影响方面的重要性。鉴于离婚对于19世纪寻求更好地控制自己生活的妇女的工具的重要性，战后西弗吉尼亚州成功离婚请愿书激增与弗吉尼亚州离婚相对稀少之间的反差惊人。它强调了地方法律制度如何扩大或限制战争对家庭秩序的破坏。边界婚姻：南北战争期间，上南地区的爱，相互和离婚再次提醒我们，如果不将妇女充分纳入战争的历史，我们将无法理解战争的后果。[结束页345]