Women's Education in the United States, 1780-1840

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Margaret A. Nash

   Pages 1-14

3. “Is Not Woman a Human Being?”

   • Margaret A. Nash

   Pages 15-33

4. “Cultivating the Powers of Human Beings”

   • Margaret A. Nash

   Pages 35-52

5. Female Education and the Emergence of the “Middling Classes”

   • Margaret A. Nash

   Pages 53-76

6. “Perfecting Our Whole Nature”

   • Margaret A. Nash

   Pages 77-98

7. Possibilities and Limitations

   • Margaret A. Nash

   Pages 99-116

8. Back Matter

   Pages 117-203

   PDF

Please note this is a 'Palgrave to Order' title. Stock of this book requires shipment from overseas. It will be delivered to you within 12 weeks. Winner of 2005 American Educational Studies Association (AESA) Critic's Choice Award, this is a groundbreaking from Margaret Nash examining the development of women's education.

• curriculum
• development
• education
• nature
• state
• women

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested,' Francis Bacon wrote in one of his famous essays. At the very least, Margaret A. Nash's study of women and American higher education should be savored, since Women's Education in the United States, 1780-1840 is an intellectual treat. Long before colleges and universities admitted women, a growing variety of academies, institutes, and seminaries opened the higher learning to a small but significant cohort of white middle class students. Nash's elegant book brings to life the social, economic, and political forces that shaped these institutions during their formative decades. And she uncovers the diverse impulses, including the sheer love of learning, that drove women to seek advanced studies. Scholars who think they understand the story of women and higher education in its earliest manifestations are in for a surprise. Nash has set a new standard in her field. - William J. Reese, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Margaret A. Nash is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education, University of California, Riverside, USA. She teaches courses on the history of education, history of curriculum, and gender and education. Her research has appeared in the History of Education Quarterly, the Journal of the Early Republic, and the History of Higher Education Annual. She is is winner of a 2005 American Educational Studies Assocation (AESA) Critic's Choice Award.