Nature's Aristocracy: A Plea for the Oppressed (Legacies of

Nature's Aristocracy: A Plea for the Oppressed (Legacies of Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers)

In 1871 Jennie Collins became one of the first working-class American women to publish a volume of her own writings: Natureâ€™s Aristocracy. Merging autobiography, social criticism, fictionalized vignettes, and feminist polemics, her book examines the perennial problem of class in America. Collins loosely structures her series of sketches around the argument that nineteenth-century U.S. society, by deviating dangerously from the ideals set forth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, had created a corrupt aristocracy and a gulf between the rich and the poor that the United Statesâ€™ founders had endeavored to prevent.
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Collinsâ€™s text serves as a mouthpiece for the little-heard voices of nineteenth-century poor and laboring women, employing sarcasm, irony, and sentimentality in condemning the empty philanthropic gestures of aristocratic capitalists and calling for justice instead of charity as a means to elevate the poor from their destitution. She also explores the necessity of suffrage for female workers who, while expected to work alongside men as their equals in labor, were hampered by lower wages and lack of control by their exclusion from the voting process.
Country USA
Brand University of Nebraska Press
Manufacturer University of Nebraska Press
Binding Paperback
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780803219342
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	University of Nebraska Press
Manufacturer	University of Nebraska Press
Binding	Paperback
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780803219342
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Nature's Aristocracy: A Plea for the Oppressed (Legacies of Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers)