"This is an immensely important book for historians. Rather than study women in isolation, Christine Stansell has put them into their political, moral, and social worlds. Her work will help bring studies of women out of their separate sphere and into the mainstream of American history."--Martha Saxton, New York Times Book Review
"A remarkable achievement--subtle, sophisticated, and amply rewarding."--Walter Kendrick, Village Voice
"Christine Stansell's highly original work takes a close look at working-class women in early nineteenth-century New York, and shows both the strengths and the vulnerabilities of this ‘city of women.' Describing the specific moral and economic circumstances of individual female lives, Stansell makes vivid historical sense of what until now has been obscured by generalization, abstraction, and oversimplification."--Jean Strouse