Welcome to Litsy!

Focusing on women - white and black, rich and poor - in the nineteenth century South, Laura Edwards reveals a full portrait of women and their political and social roles that reaches far beyond the passive stereotypes of the slave and southern belle. Scarlett Doesn't Live Here Anymore demonstrates how women on every step of the social ladder worked actively throughout the period to shape southern society in ways that fulfilled their hopes for the future. They used the resources at their disposal to fashion their own positive identities, to create the social bonds that sustained them in difficult times, and to express powerful social critiques that helped them make sense of their lives.