No American needs to be told that the Civil War brought the United States to a critical juncture in its history. The war changed forever the face of the nation, the nature of American politics, the status of African-Americans, and the daily lives of millions of people. Yet few of us understand how the war transformed gender roles and attitudes toward sexuality among American citizens. Divided Houses is the first book to address this sorely neglected topic, showing how the themes of gender, class, race, and sexuality interacted to forge the beginnings of a new society. In this...
No American needs to be told that the Civil War brought the United States to a critical juncture in its history. The war changed forever the face of t...
Over a decade ago, the publication of Divided Houses ushered in a new field of scholarship on gender and the Civil War. Following in its wake, Battle Scars showcases insights from award-winning historians as well as emerging scholars. This volume depicts the ways in which gender, race, nationalism, religion, literary culture, sexual mores, and even epidemiology underwent radical transformations from when Americans went to war in 1861 through Reconstruction. Examining the interplay among such phenomena as racial stereotypes, sexual violence, trauma, and notions of...
Over a decade ago, the publication of Divided Houses ushered in a new field of scholarship on gender and the Civil War. Following in its wake...
When secessionist chaos turned to bloodshed in 1861, Mary A. Livermore (1820-1905), editor, lecturer, and abolitionist, left her family and volunteered for the U.S. Sanitary Commission, becoming one of a handful of women to achieve national prominence and a position of leadership within the Commission. Her efforts--from nursing wounded soldiers at the front to organizing the Sanitary Fairs that raised more than a million dollars for relief work--earned the respect of Grant, Sherman, and Lincoln. My Story of the War presents Livermore's remarkable war experiences, including personal...
When secessionist chaos turned to bloodshed in 1861, Mary A. Livermore (1820-1905), editor, lecturer, and abolitionist, left her family and volunteere...
The reconciliation of North and South following the Civil War depended as much on cultural imagination as on the politics of Reconstruction. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Nina Silber documents the transformation from hostile sectionalism to sentimental reunion rhetoric. Northern culture created a notion of reconciliation that romanticized and feminized southern society. In tourist accounts, novels, minstrel shows, and popular magazines, northerners contributed to a mythic and nostalgic picture of the South that served to counter their anxieties regarding the breakdown of class and...
The reconciliation of North and South following the Civil War depended as much on cultural imagination as on the politics of Reconstruction. Drawing o...
These letters by New England soldiers and their families, many published for the first time, speak of the hardships of the war, especially frustrations with the army, homefront suffering, and government policies. They are grouped by six major themes: the military experience, the meaning of the war, views of the South, politics on the home front, the personal sacrifices of war, and the correspondence of one New England family.
These letters by New England soldiers and their families, many published for the first time, speak of the hardships of the war, especially frustrat...
Daughters of the Union casts a spotlight on some of the most overlooked and least understood participants in the American Civil War: the women of the North. Unlike their Confederate counterparts, who were often caught in the midst of the conflict, most Northern women remained far from the dangers of battle. Nonetheless, they enlisted in the Union cause on their home ground, and the experience transformed their lives.
Nina Silber traces the emergence of a new sense of self and citizenship among the women left behind by Union soldiers. She offers a complex account, bolstered by...
Daughters of the Union casts a spotlight on some of the most overlooked and least understood participants in the American Civil War: the wom...
In an insightful exploration of gender relations during the Civil War, Nina Silber compares broad ideological constructions of masculinity and femininity among Northerners and Southerners. She argues that attitudes about gender shaped the experiences of the Civil War's participants, including how soldiers and their female kin thought about their "causes" and obligations in wartime. Despite important similarities, says Silber, differing gender ideologies shaped the way each side viewed, participated in, and remembered the war.
Silber finds that rhetoric on both sides connected...
In an insightful exploration of gender relations during the Civil War, Nina Silber compares broad ideological constructions of masculinity and feminin...
