''A polished, gracefully written, and utterly convincing study on an important topic. Carter uses the book's many fascinating stories about the South's single women to provide compelling and sensible answers to key historiographical questions.'' Cynthia A. Kierner, author of Beyond the Household: Women's Place in the Early South 1700-1835 ''Southern Single Blessedness is an important study of an overlooked topic. Christine Jacobson Carter shifts the focus of southern women's history from plantation mistresses enclosed within plantation households, isolated in rural outposts, and limited by societal restrictions, to urban spinsters who were integral to the family circle, sustained by same-sex relationships, and at the center of a vital network of female associations. This intriguing study offers scholars a new vantage point from which to explore southern history, women's culture, and the Civil War.'' Anya Jabour, author of Marriage in the Early Republic: Elizabeth and William Wirt and the Companionate Ideal