Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917

Compare and contrast the ideological positions and personal beliefs of Ida B. Wells and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. How do they, as women, conceive of manliness and masculinity? How do they perceive manliness and masculinity with respect to their conceptions of race? What are their expectations of men, and how would they like to see male behavior change to reflect their ideals? How do they conceptualize their own gender identity and roles as they exist and as they would like them to be? How do their racial identities inform and construct their world views?

Explore the way white middle-class men engage in romanticism in the process of what Bederman calls “remaking masculinity.” In context of Theodore Roosevelt’s depictions of the American West, Hall’s paternalistic and patronizing view of himself as a savior of people of color, and Burrough’s Tarzan of the Apes, how do these men communicate their value systems through the concepts they sensationalize and misconstrue?