The Papers of Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton, Harold C. Syrett

Columbia University Press, 1969 - History - 717 pages

This book explores the puzzling phenomenon of new veiling practices among lower middle class women in Cairo, Egypt. Although these women are part of a modernizing middle class, they also voluntarily adopt a traditional symbol of female subordination. How can this paradox be explained?

An explanation emerges which reconceptualizes what appears to be reactionary behavior as a new style of political struggle--as accommodating protest. These women, most of them clerical workers in the large government bureaucracy, are ambivalent about working outside the home, considering it a change which brings new burdens as well as some important benefits. At the same time they realize that leaving home and family is creating an intolerable situation of the erosion of their social status and the loss of their traditional identity. The new veiling expresses women's protest against this. MacLeod argues that the symbolism of the new veiling emerges from this tense subcultural dilemma, involving elements of both resistance and acquiescence.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - brleach - LibraryThing

Although there are some interesting papers in here, and they are all of historical interest if you'd like to gain a thorough understanding of Hamilton, the majority of the letters consist of ...

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About the author

Edward D. berkowitz is professor of history and public policy and public administration at George Washington University. He is the author of eight books and the editor of three collections. During the seventies he served as a staff member of the President's Commission for a National Agenda, helping President Carter plan for a second term that never came to be.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton; June, 1793-January, 1794; The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
• Authors: Alexander Hamilton, Harold C. Syrett
• Editor: Harold C. Syrett
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1969
• ISBN: 0231089147, 9780231089142
• Length: 717 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / General