During this period the realms of the public and the private became increasingly separated, with increasingly separate roles for men and women. Changes in cultural values concerning gender, ideals about family relationships, and ideas of the appropriate role women brought uncertainty, confusion, and contradiction. Anne Powell's life embodied this shift in values and provides an example of how they were carried from the old world to the new. A Life of Propriety makes an innovative contribution to the literature on women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and will also be of interest to scholars in women's studies, and early Ontario and Canadian history, as well as to the general reader. "Sets the story of the Powell family in the context of a growing international literature on gender and family relations in an important period of change ... a captivating story and a great read." Alison Prentice, Department of History and Philosophy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

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"So dramatic is Anne Powell's story and so well presented by the author that it was difficult to put the book down ... It is a rare and fine example of a case study biography." Margaret Conrad, Department of History, Acadia University.