Review
Glymph creates a new narrative about women in the war-across race, class, and regional boundaries-by challenging the battlefield/home front divide. . . . This book is a vital contribution to the scholarship on the Civil War because it does not merely illuminate the experiences of diverse groups of women; it also uses that evidence to transform our understanding of the Civil War (and perhaps war) itself."-Annals of Iowa
A great strength of Glymph's account is her comparisons across class, racial, and regional lines . . . a powerful interpretation backed by a superb understanding of the sources and the literature."-New England Quarterly
Powerful. . . . The Women's Fight is a book that compels us to reckon not only with the wartime experience of women but the possibilities that can come from patient historical research. In both respects, Glymph succeeds brilliantly."-American Nineteenth Century History
Glymph's study complicates and adds nuance to our picture of women's wartime struggles. The obstacles they faced were as multifaceted and individual as their personalities. Glymph has surpassed previous historians in bringing the individual experiences, contributions, and views of her female subjects, elite and poor, black and white, Northern and Southern, to light."-North Carolina Historical Review
In the burgeoning literature on women and the Civil War, The Women's Fight is unique both because of the scope of its argument and the depth of its research. Glymph not only describes how the war affected women of all kinds but also examines their interactions with one another across boundaries of race, region, and class. The result is a fascinating and illuminating account that sheds important new light on America's greatest crisis."-Eric Foner, author of The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution
Glymph's sweeping assessment employs intersectional methods to the study of women in the Civil War while simultaneously problematizing key assumptions in the field. The result is a bold reassessment of the field with the political inventiveness of women, North and South, planted firmly at its center. . . .The Women's Fight has enormous implications for the future direction of Civil War historiography."Journal of African American History
A meticulously researched study . . . [that] complicates the assumptions we bring to the study of women in the American Civil War."-English Historical Review
By telling the important, yet often-overlooked story of how enslaved women fought for their rights, and how white women often upheld the status quo, Glymph has written a much-needed account of Civil War historiography."-Library Journal
Glymph adds to the important new work being conducted on how the war influenced many different groups of refugees and the specific issues they faced. Throughout the volume, she illuminates neglected narratives and provides suggestions on possible subjects for future studies about the lives of women during the era."-H-Net Reviews
Broadly considered, this publication deepens the scholarship illustrating the depth of military policy on women, from auxiliary roles to all areas of service today."-CHOICE
Review
In the burgeoning literature on women and the Civil War, The Women's Fight is unique both because of the scope of its argument and the depth of its research. Glymph not only describes how the war affected women of all kinds but also examines their interactions with one another across boundaries of race, region, and class. The result is a fascinating and illuminating account that sheds important new light on America's greatest crisis."—Eric Foner, author of The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution
About the Author
Thavolia Glymph is Peabody Family Distinguished Professor of History and Professor of Law at Duke University and author of Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household.
