first quarter of 2019 in books

[sea_changed]

1. Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton, Tilar Mazzeo [just as fundamentally horrible as the title would suggest]
2. Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
3. Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
4. Tongues of Serpents, Naomi Novik
5. The Fantasy of Feminist History, Joan Scott
6. Crucible of Gold, Naomi Novik
7. Contraceptive Diplomacy: Reproductive Politics and Imperial Ambitions in the United States and Japan, Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci
8. Any Old Diamonds, K.J. Charles [fine--even good--but the relationship just wasn’t given enough room to breath, I think]
9. Blood of Tyrants, Naomi Novik
10. Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology, Deirdre Cooper Owens
11. Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
12. Intimate Bonds: Family and Slavery in the French Atlantic, Jennifer Palmer
13. No Bond but the Law: Punishment, Race, and Gender in Jamaican State Formation, 1780-1870, Diana Paton [really interesting; if you have any interest in the topic I recommend it]
14. A Fashionable Indulgence, K.J. Charles [reread]
15. The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, T.H. Breen
16. Women And Property in Colonial New York: The Transition From Dutch To English Law, 1643-1727, Linda Briggs Biemer
17. Remembrance of Patria: Dutch Arts and Culture in Colonial America, Roderic Blackburn and Ruth Piwonka
18. When Katie Met Cassidy, Camille Perri [this looked like it was going to be the upmarket f/f romance we deserved, but alas]
19. The Edwardians, Vita Sackville-West [looked more promising than it turned out to actually be, but when it was great it was great]
20. The Pure and the Impure, Colette
21. Before Wilde: Sex between Men in Britain’s Age of Reform, Charles Upchurch
22. The Politics Of Narrative: Ideology And Social Change In William Godwin's "Caleb Williams,” Kenneth Graham
23. Sins against Nature: Sex and Archives in Colonial New Spain, Zeb Tortorici
24. Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830, Rictor Norton
25. Dutch New York, between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick, Deborah L. Krohn and Peter Miller
26. Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, Alyssa Cole

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

What a lovely list! Do you have a particular favorite of the academic texts here besides the Paton?

[sea_changed]

Ooh. The Upchurch was actually really great, and better the more I think about it--it was mildly interesting when I was reading it, but I've found myself turning over his arguments and finding a lot there that's useful and worth thinking about. (Especially re: his arguments about class, which are central to the book.)

The Breen was also great--a historian who can write is always a rare and precious thing, and the whole thing is really quite a bit of fun, considering it's about, well, consumerism and the American Revolution.

[chestnut_pod]

That Upchurch looks like a great "fun academic" read for over summer when I have some time.

[brigdh]

Oooh, lots of stuff about Dutch New York! Can I ask if you have any particular reason for those titles? I've been doing research on that period myself lately.

[sea_changed]

Yes! My masters research is on material culture in colonial New York, and something I'm particularly interested in how and where Dutch culture survived and in what forms. (If you have any recs, incidentally, I'm all ears.) I find the whole topic fascinating, particularly in how the Dutch shaped New York's physical and cultural worlds so dramatically (worlds which are now themselves almost entirely lost--New York really expurgated so much of its colonial history, which is I think part of what makes it so fascinating.)