{"product_id":"sapphic-slashers-9780822326175","title":"Sapphic Slashers","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1892, in the broad daylight of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, a middle class woman named Alice Mitchell slashed the throat of her lover, Freda Ward, killing her instantly. Local, national, and international newspapers, medical and scientific publications, and popular fiction writers all clamoured to cover the ensuing \"girl lovers\" murder trial.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A book to die for! Theoretically sophisticated, yet written with clarity and elegance, \u003ci\u003eSapphic Slashers\u003c\/i\u003e opens whole new worlds of understanding about sexuality, gender norms, racial injustice, violence, and the complex ways they are connected. Full of passion and intelligence, it made me think in fresh new ways about issues of great importance. Duggan’s is an amazing intellect.”—John D’Emilio, coauthor of \u003ci\u003eIntimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Duggan seamlessly combines cultural theory with analyses of material conditions and demonstrates a breathtaking command of American cultural institutions—the mass press, the judicial systems, the medical literature. The book is not only smart about the interconnections between gender, sex, race, class, and nation, but is also lucid, making a good read.”—Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, author of \u003ci\u003eBoots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In this stunningly coherent and compelling account of the development of ‘American modernity,’ Duggan captures our interest with the sensational tale of lesbian love murder but then insists that we read this tale through turn-of-the-century debates over racial violence and against the backdrop of the medicalization of homosexuality. \u003ci\u003eSapphic Slashers \u003c\/i\u003ehas ‘classic’ written all over it.”—Judith Halberstam, author of \u003ci\u003eFemale Masculinity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What Duggan does in this original and moving book is take a murder case from 1890’s Memphis and make of it a prism through which to illuminate American modernity. Her method depends less on an account of the murder or of the judicial procedure that followed it than on an analysis of the many narratives—of lesbian love and sex and madness—that the case occasioned. Juxtaposing these narratives to narratives of lynching, Duggan produces a \u003ci\u003etour-de-force\u003c\/i\u003e of historical understanding.”—Henry Abelove, Wesleyan University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments ix\u003cbr\u003e Introduction 1\u003cbr\u003e Part I Murder in Memphis \u003cbr\u003e 1. Girl Slays Girl 9\u003cbr\u003e 2. A Feast of Sensation 32\u003cbr\u003e 3. Habeas Corpus 61\u003cbr\u003e 4. Inquisition of Lunacy 87\u003cbr\u003e Part II Making Meanings \u003cbr\u003e 5. Violent Passions 123\u003cbr\u003e 6. Doctors of Desire 156\u003cbr\u003e 7. A Thousand Stories 180\u003cbr\u003e More Than Love: An Epilogue 193\u003cbr\u003e Appendix A: Hypothetical Case 201\u003cbr\u003e Appendix B: Letters 213\u003cbr\u003e Notes 233\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography 281\u003cbr\u003e Index 299","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49406026449239,"sku":"9780822326175","price":25.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780822326175.jpg?v=1730494289","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/sapphic-slashers-9780822326175","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}