Definining female authorship -- Writing in and out of the home : parlor culture and authorship -- Authorizing reception : Maria Cummins and The lamplighter -- Revising romance : Louisa May Alcott, Hawthorne, and the Civil War -- Contractual authorship : Elizabeth Keckley and Mary Abigail Dodge -- Elizabeth Stuart Phelp's ethical authorship -- Epilogue : amateurs and professionals in Woolson and James.