Elizabeth Fox-Genovese: Historian, Is Dead at 65 (NYT Obit)
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, a noted historian and women’s studies scholar who roiled both disciplines with her transition from Marxist-inclined feminist to conservative public intellectual, died on Tuesday in Atlanta. She was 65 and had lived in Atlanta for many years.
Ms. Fox-Genovese’s husband, the historian Eugene D. Genovese, confirmed the death, citing no specific cause. He said that his wife had lived with multiple sclerosis for the last 15 years and that her health had declined after she underwent major surgery in October.
At her death, Ms. Fox-Genovese was the Eléonore Raoul professor of the humanities at Emory University. In 1986, she founded the university’s Institute for Women’s Studies and was its director until 1991.
Originally trained as a historian of 18th-century France, Ms. Fox-Genovese became known for her studies of women in the antebellum South, among them “Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South” (University of North Carolina, 1988) and “To Be Worthy of God’s Favor: Southern Women’s Defense and Critique of Slavery” (Gettysburg College, 1993).
With her husband, a well-known historian of American slavery, Ms. Fox-Genovese wrote “The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders’ Worldview” (Cambridge University), published in 2005.
Ms. Fox-Genovese was also known for two books about feminism that charted her evolving stance toward the movement. In the first, “Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism” (University of North Carolina, 1991), she took the women’s movement to task for reflecting — too narrowly, she felt — the concerns of middle-class white women.
Reviewing Ms. Fox-Genovese’s book in The New York Times Book Review, Rosemary L. Bray called it “insightful and important,” adding: “It’s possible that the tough questions she asks — about abortion, pornography and the ubiquitous canon wars — might finally inspire the thoughtful debate and civilized discourse we’ve been missing.”...
Read entire article at NYT
Ms. Fox-Genovese’s husband, the historian Eugene D. Genovese, confirmed the death, citing no specific cause. He said that his wife had lived with multiple sclerosis for the last 15 years and that her health had declined after she underwent major surgery in October.
At her death, Ms. Fox-Genovese was the Eléonore Raoul professor of the humanities at Emory University. In 1986, she founded the university’s Institute for Women’s Studies and was its director until 1991.
Originally trained as a historian of 18th-century France, Ms. Fox-Genovese became known for her studies of women in the antebellum South, among them “Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South” (University of North Carolina, 1988) and “To Be Worthy of God’s Favor: Southern Women’s Defense and Critique of Slavery” (Gettysburg College, 1993).
With her husband, a well-known historian of American slavery, Ms. Fox-Genovese wrote “The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders’ Worldview” (Cambridge University), published in 2005.
Ms. Fox-Genovese was also known for two books about feminism that charted her evolving stance toward the movement. In the first, “Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism” (University of North Carolina, 1991), she took the women’s movement to task for reflecting — too narrowly, she felt — the concerns of middle-class white women.
Reviewing Ms. Fox-Genovese’s book in The New York Times Book Review, Rosemary L. Bray called it “insightful and important,” adding: “It’s possible that the tough questions she asks — about abortion, pornography and the ubiquitous canon wars — might finally inspire the thoughtful debate and civilized discourse we’ve been missing.”...