Starting with the haunting faces of the young women who are pictured on the cover, to the many illustrations through out, we learn of the thoughts and activities that occupied the daily lives of the women of the Confederacy. This book is filled with wonderful diary excerpts, parts of letters and interesting photographs. Through these means we are given an insightful look at the way Southern women lived during the most tragic of times, our American Civil War.
I've read a great deal about this particular era, but learned so much from this book. For instance, I had no idea that many men wanted their wives to accompany them off to war. Some of these women did just that and lamented about leaving their children behind with relatives. One young woman said that her husband was "ordering me to Mississippi" in the summer of 1862, and how brokenhearted she was because she feared that her baby would forget her while she was away.
Another interesting fact was that numerous ladies wrote personal letters to President Jefferson Davis and requested that their husbands or sons be sent home because they were needed by their families. Other ladies wrote directly to their husbands and clearly told them they had given enough effort to the war, and it was time to come home.
Some of the other information that is discussed is how women were often forced to move in with relatives and how their days were filled with unfamiliar work. They also were required, with very little experience, to manage their slave labor and operate plantations or farms. Some women seemed to enjoy the challenge, and for others the burden was too much.
The blockade of goods going to the South was another problem to deal with because so many of the items of necessity were manufactured in the North. One of the reasons that the hoop skirt went out of fashion was because a vast amount of material was needed to cover a hoop. Cloth was so scarse that the ladies were making it themselves, and there was little to spare for elaborate clothing. Even the hoops were no longer obtainable after they wore out. Working hard and making do became the way to survive and these women became the mothers of invention.
Drew Gilpin Faust has done an enormous amount of research in compiling all of this information and I believe that it was a labor of love and she is to be commended. I will admit that at times I thought her writing style was a little stiff, and I sometimes resented the conclusions that she made. I thought that the material spoke for itself and needed very little explanation. These are minor criticisms because she has put together a unique and wonderful book.
I believe this book will stand the test of time, and be read for many years to come.I chose it to be read by my book group and it generated a lively discussion and we all felt we benefited by reading it.
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Nads
Faust - a Civil War Historian
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2017