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Paperback The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson's White House Book

ISBN: 0807126349

ISBN13: 9780807126349

The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson's White House

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Format: Paperback

Condition: Good

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Book Overview

In The Petticoat Affair, prize-winning historian John F. Marszalek offers the first in--depth investigation of the earliest -- and perhaps greatest -- political sex scandal in American history. During Andrew Jackson's first term in office, Margaret Eaton, the wife of Secretary of State John Henry Eaton, was branded a loose woman for her unconventional public life. The brash, outgoing, and beautiful daughter of a Washington innkeeper, Margaret had socialized with her father's guests and married Eaton very soon after the death of her first husband, shocking genteel society. Jackson saw attacks on Eaton as part of a conspiracy to topple his administration, and his strong defense of her character dominated the first two years of his term, and led to the resignation of his entire cabinet.

Customer Reviews

3 ratings

Superior

My students, who detest reading with a passion, invariably enjoy reading this book. Full of "good guys" and "bad guys" it forces them to choose a side, which makes it great for essay assignments.

Excellent Social History

This book is well-written and difficult to put down. The author did his research well. It is a good explanation of the Margaret Eaton Affair and of the social mores that women were expected to live by in the 1820s and 1830s. It is also a classic example of the theory that "men get their identity by what they do; women, by their family." Margaret Eaton could not escape that she was the daughter of a "tavern-keeper" and many of the slanders against her were merely based on the prejudices of the time concerning the stereotypical behavior of the daughters of tavern-keepers.

Fine treatment of an old scandal

This book is first a description of a political scandal in the 1820s and 1830s in which a President threw his administration into turmoil over a woman. Secondly, there is a fine treatment of the role women were expected to play in the 1800s and the reasons Margaret Eaton and Rachel Jackson did not fit in. It's a fine well written story, very worthwhile.
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