This was an excellent summarization of white, slave-owning women in the south. The author provided well-researched descriptions of the various actions, atrocities, and intentions of these white women in a series of chapters that each had its own theme/topic. While not every point she made was new to me, there was some very specific instances that she discusses that made me pause, highlighting aspects of American society that I never would have thought stemmed from racism. I believe that this book will remain a regular reference for me, and I will be recommending this to anyone who will listen. Note, I only knocked a star off because I found a few of the chapters repetitive, resulting in some of her key points losing traction. Hard, but great read.