judyward 's review for:

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

4.0

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The Civil War wasn't just about epic battles and armies on the move. Instead, the war affected the lives of nearly every person in the United States. Karen Abbott tells the stories of four women during the war--two from the North and two from the South--in an effort to understand the impact that the war had on their lives and the impact that their lives had on the war. Belle Boyd was a young woman who was a spy for the Confederate Army, shot a Union soldier in the front hallway of her Virginia home, and seduced men from both sides in the war in an effort to aid the cause of the South. Emma Edmunds cut her hair, dressed in men's clothes, enlisted in the Union Army, and was fully incorporated into her unit which saw action in several battles in the war. Elizabeth Van Lew was a wealthy abolitionist living in Richmond, Virginia who participated in a spy ring right under the noses of her family and her Confederate neighbors. And Rose O'Neal Greenhow had affairs with prominent Union politicians in order to gather information and often used her young daughter to transport this information to Southern agents operating in Washington, D.C. This book is a fascinating read and offers new insight into life for civilians during the Civil War.