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"Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic" by Joanne Freeman is reviewed.
Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic, by Joanne Freeman.
This book is an exciting exploration of the culture of honor that underpinned the politics of the early American Republic. In an era without political parties, the code of honor served to regulate the behavior of gentlemen, a status which all those in public life strove to hold, providing some stability to an anxious elite. Freeman, who holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia, frames each of her chapters around a significant-and often neglected-- primary source in order to discuss the politics of reputation, political gossip, the use of "private" letters, pamphlets, broadsides, and newspapers in political warfare, dueling, and the election of 1800 in the context of honor culture. Her command and close reading of these sources is admirable, and has allowed her to harvest a crop of new insights into the history of the period. This achievement, coupled with a style that is compulsively readable, makes this book a serious delight. Yale $29.95
Copyright University of Virginia Spring 2002