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Review of Spirited Lives: How Nuns Shaped Catholic Culture And American Life, 1836-1920 by Carol K. Coburn and Martha Smith
The American Historical Review (2003)
  • Nancy Lusignan Schultz
Abstract
That two scholars–one specializing in American history, and the other European history–have collaboratively written a study of a century of life in an American women's religious community is fitting for the uncharted territory that they set out to explore. Nineteenth-century nuns, as Carol K. Coburn and Martha Smith point out, would have approvingly described such a joint venture as "avoiding 'singularity'"; at the turn of the twenty-first century, readers can welcome Coburn and Smith's study as a significant "feminist collaboration." This book weaves the story of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet into the broader tapestry of American history during the period 1836-1920, documenting ways that the order's contributions to the fields of education, health care, and social services strengthened both the American Catholic community and the country.
Disciplines
Publication Date
April, 2003
DOI
10.1086/533303
Citation Information
Nancy Lusignan Schultz. "Review of Spirited Lives: How Nuns Shaped Catholic Culture And American Life, 1836-1920 by Carol K. Coburn and Martha Smith" The American Historical Review Vol. 108 Iss. 2 (2003) p. 530 - 531
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nancy-schultz/9/