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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
An absorbing portrayal of four women - two Northern and two Southern - who took on traditionally male roles in the U.S. Civil War. Their personalities and motivations were very different, ranging from patriotism to narcissism to a desperate desire to escape a desolate life. I found myself liking and respecting one, and experiencing a couple of others as grating and shallow, but all are interesting.
For anyone interested in Civil War history, this book examines a seldom-studied aspect of that conflict that's often mentioned but usually only in passing. Highly recommended.
For anyone interested in Civil War history, this book examines a seldom-studied aspect of that conflict that's often mentioned but usually only in passing. Highly recommended.
This is the story of four different women and their contributions during the Civil War. This was a four star rating because, while the information and story was intriguing, it was confusing going back and forth between the stories and trying to figure out who's on what side.
All four women qualified as Liars and Spies, but my favorite was Emma, who wore a Union uniform and fought in battle in addition to delivering the mail. I liked that Emma and Elizabeth spent their time nursing soldiers back to health.
I was not quite as impressed with Belle and Rose using their womanly wiles to confuse the soldiers and obtain information and favors. I liked Rose the least because she put her ambitions and activism above the health of her daughter, who starved alongside her in prison. Rose was also an unapologetic racist. *fume*
Belle was kind of interesting because she acted very much like Scarlet O'Hara, flirting with the other soldiers and worshipping the generals like a groupie. She was having so much fun flirting with the soldiers in prison that you'd think she was on The Bachelor or something! I think that a very interesting movie could be made about Belle, and for some reason, I pictured her as Anna Kendrick throughout the book, even though the real Belle was not very attractive.
All four women qualified as Liars and Spies, but my favorite was Emma, who wore a Union uniform and fought in battle in addition to delivering the mail. I liked that Emma and Elizabeth spent their time nursing soldiers back to health.
I was not quite as impressed with Belle and Rose using their womanly wiles to confuse the soldiers and obtain information and favors. I liked Rose the least because she put her ambitions and activism above the health of her daughter, who starved alongside her in prison. Rose was also an unapologetic racist. *fume*
Belle was kind of interesting because she acted very much like Scarlet O'Hara, flirting with the other soldiers and worshipping the generals like a groupie. She was having so much fun flirting with the soldiers in prison that you'd think she was on The Bachelor or something! I think that a very interesting movie could be made about Belle, and for some reason, I pictured her as Anna Kendrick throughout the book, even though the real Belle was not very attractive.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
The idea of this book is fantastic but I had a hard time with the structure. Rather than the book being quartered into the stories of the four women, it is a timeline through the four years of the war. Each chapter is a different woman's story. The problem I had is it takes too long to know which woman you are reading about at the start of each chapter. Ok - is this the woman who is the Southerner sympathetic to the North? Or is this the woman who is the DC socialite sending messages to the South? I admit I quit the book after 200 pages and the only story I want to finish is the woman hidden as a soldier. What happened to her?! I'm too frustrated to find just her story among the others.
This is a very readable book about four women during the American Civil War. Abbott choses two women from the Union and two from the Confedracy. Why these four is somewhat unclear - perhaps the least well known is Elizabeth van Lew or Emma Edmonds. Belle Boyd and Rose Greenhow are more well known.
And I think that is the what stops this book from being a five star. It is unclear why these four women - is it to bring little known stories to the fore, okay but Belle Boyd is not obscure (and if you have been to the Spy Museum then you know Greenhow). There is also the question of when a story might be BS. I am not saying that Abbott is making anything up - she isn't and everything is endnoted. But some of Belle Boyd's stories are not entirely verifable, and at times, it appears that Abbott takes her word as fact, something that is disproved when you look at the endnote. This stands out because Abbott is a little more in text doubting of Emma Edmonds (there is a debate about how accurate Edmonds's tale is), and one wonders why it is that Boyd seems to get more belief (at least until you look at the endnotes).
Additionally, there is little about the women's lives prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. For instance, I am currently reading [b:Blood and Daring: How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation|15798306|Blood and Daring How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation|John Boyko|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364250968s/15798306.jpg|21521232] which also includes a chapter that deals with Emma Edmonds. In that chapter, the author notes that the man Edmonds meets again in the US was also the man who helped her flee her father. This is something that Abbott does not note in the body of her text. Abbott also does not note in her text what happened to Mary Jane, Elizabeth Van Lew's servant. MJ was a black woman who worked as spy. She spied on Jefferson Davis. It is possible that the historical record does not give us this infromation, but that should be noted in the text and not a footnote.
Still, this is a very enjoyable read.
And I think that is the what stops this book from being a five star. It is unclear why these four women - is it to bring little known stories to the fore, okay but Belle Boyd is not obscure (and if you have been to the Spy Museum then you know Greenhow). There is also the question of when a story might be BS. I am not saying that Abbott is making anything up - she isn't and everything is endnoted. But some of Belle Boyd's stories are not entirely verifable, and at times, it appears that Abbott takes her word as fact, something that is disproved when you look at the endnote. This stands out because Abbott is a little more in text doubting of Emma Edmonds (there is a debate about how accurate Edmonds's tale is), and one wonders why it is that Boyd seems to get more belief (at least until you look at the endnotes).
Additionally, there is little about the women's lives prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. For instance, I am currently reading [b:Blood and Daring: How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation|15798306|Blood and Daring How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation|John Boyko|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364250968s/15798306.jpg|21521232] which also includes a chapter that deals with Emma Edmonds. In that chapter, the author notes that the man Edmonds meets again in the US was also the man who helped her flee her father. This is something that Abbott does not note in the body of her text. Abbott also does not note in her text what happened to Mary Jane, Elizabeth Van Lew's servant. MJ was a black woman who worked as spy. She spied on Jefferson Davis. It is possible that the historical record does not give us this infromation, but that should be noted in the text and not a footnote.
Still, this is a very enjoyable read.
Though this is a work of non-fiction, it reads like a historical fiction novel. Karen Abbott achieved this by creating authentic dialogue crafted from extensive research using personal papers, newspapers, and official records. The book features two women from each side: Emma Edmondson, who disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Union Army; Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy spinster living in the Confederate capital, but with Unionist loyalties; Rose Greenhow, a seductive widow spying for the south; and Belle Boyd, a boisterous flirt and Confederate spy. This was an interesting account of the traditional roles of women during the Civil War, and what would drive them to perform subversive acts when the penalties are so high. – Sara Z.
Women fighting the Civil War in various ways: as soldiers dressed as men; as spies. It reads like historical fiction and it's all real and exhaustively researched. A bit confusing at times with so many characters.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced