This book is a refreshing perspective on the different roles women played during the civil war, focusing on the women who went against the societal norm and law to fight on the battlefield with their husbands, brothers, fathers, and comrades. While this book covers a variety of reasons (money, love, boredom) why some women risked their lives and "virtue" to pass as men during the Civil War, I was hoping for more in-depth explanations of the propelling factors women joined the ranks. Although, information would certainly be limited on women living in secret, Silvey does an excellent job describing the service and aftermath of a handful of female soldiers for both the Union and Confederacy in an unbiased and interesting way. The text includes a good deal of portraits of the women discussed and a few official documents, letters from these women (if available) would have really added to the visuals in this text. ( )

"I had never heard of--or even thought about--the women who fought in the war" (Silvey, 95). Anita Silvey's thoughts echo my own when first seeing the cover of her work, I'll Pass for Your Comrade. On her own journey of discovery, Silvey explores why women joined the military and fought during the Civil War, how they managed to join and stay in the first place, and what happened to them. I'll Pass for Your Comrade makes use of first hand accounts of women in battle, including letters, journal entries, memoirs, and pictures from the era. The legacies of these women who fought bravely, risking and often giving the ultimate sacrifice, have sadly been swept under the colloquial rug of patriarchal history because they did not fit the image of what it means to be a woman in 19th and 20th century America. While geared to wards social studies and history in nature, this book serves as an excellent piece on gender studies and censorship, as it reveals by example how society shapes its history and our understanding of it, presenting reality as constructed rather than definite. ( )

The subtitle says it all: Silvey's book examines the lives of women who fought on both sides of the Civil War under the guise of men. Silvey answers not only how but why women disguised themselves as males to fight. The book is well-formatted and makes great use of Civil War photography, primary letters and documents, and creative artwork. Silvey claims the book is for "a young audience," but I hope to order a copy for my 12th grade classroom. It is easy enough to digest that I think it could work for middle schoolers; just beware that there are photographs of dead soldiers scattered throughout the book.

One unit of my English class is centered around the concept of female agency, and as a class, the students look at examples of women taking action throughout history. I plan to introduce the book as an example of women giving themselves agency in order to spark discussion about gender roles and help them make connections to the women in our literature. The book not only gives concrete examples but also discusses the struggles, successes, and failures of women in a way that will help the students make connections to our real, modern world. ( )

This book details the lives of females in the Civil War. It particularly highlights the lives of women disguised as men who participated as infantry. It rather slowly goes through a long lists of reasons why many women disguised themselves to join the active military on both sides of the conflict. It then goes on to detail the variety of new habits these women would have to master in order to remain hidden in their regiment and alive during combat.

This book could be used as a very limited resource in a human health sciences class to explore the roles of women in the healthcare field during war time. There are few, if any, connections to science. It would be difficult to use this in a science classroom, but very easy to use in a history, political science, or gender studies class. ( )

I always appreciate when a book shows me how much I DON'T know, and this was one of them! I had no idea that females served their country in this capacity during the Civil War. In my curriculum, we sometimes cover Stephen Crane's "An Episode of War" while we are studying Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. My students often do not appreciate this story or other in-depth conversations about the war. However, using a resource such as Silvey's book to discuss the horrors of this horrible time in American history may capture their interest. I think it would be empowering to share this with my classes of female students, especially. Many past students have desires to serve in the armed forces, so this would certainly provide role models for them. ( )