Drew Gilpin Faust

Excellent and very well-written research and scholarship. Says a few things that need to be said about the institution of slavery, and the true nature of the Confederacy.[return][return]First of all, set aside any "romantic" Scarlett O'Hara-style notions of Confederate ladies as spunky gals who would do anything to support their Boys in Grey, protect their children, and maintain their "way of life." Based on the fantastic array of letters, journals and other writing from every corner of the show more Confederacy, most of these women were whiny, pathetic and unbelievably lazy. Their social standing meant everything, and their social standing was based upon being weak and fragile "ladies," capable of doing nothing that could be described as real work.[return][return]That included looking after their own children. Lizzie Neblett, cited in the book's description as "a housewife facing a life of physical labor for the first time," is forced to look after her own children, when her slaves run away, and writes unapologetically about beating her 10-month-old daughter.[return][return]There were exceptions, of course, women who were prepared to risk social ostracism as nurses, joining the ranks of common women and slaves who were considered suitable for such lowly, "demeaning" work. Women who felt liberated by the disruption of the paternalistic system of the antebellum South, as they had to take responsibility for their lives for, perhaps, the first time. Women who began, however, haltingly, to recognize that the evil of slavery had brought them to this.[return][return]I have one (relatively minor) criticism: the subtitle, I think, could be misleading. The women Faust focuses on are the women of the slave-holding elite, whose who, in their own eyes, were the "aristocracy" of the South. Their attitude to ordinary, working class Southerners is very revealing of the con that this "masterclass" of slaveowners managed to perpetrate: pursuading those they considered their social inferiors to fight and die for a system that held them down. show less

5/20 Fantastic. One of those beautifully written histories that reads like literature. Faust is a great writer, and an amazing historian, and through her book, the struggles of the women in the south come alive. It's one of those books that reminds you that men aren't the only ones who made history, and it's certainly a book that enlightens a subject we don't often think about. The subject is gripping: What would you do if your husband went off to war and you were left alone, with children show more to take care of, a plantation to manage, and slaves who could run off or revolt at any minute?
What's particularly interesting about this book is that it explores how people's notions of womanhood and "being a lady" changed through the war, and how they were tailored to fit different circumstances. Women's attempt to reconcile the disparate elements of what being a woman was in wartime is poignant; especially as you realize that these issues haven't disappeared in the modern world, but are still being examined, questioned and changed.
Highly recommended, particularly when paired with Fausts' other brilliant book "This Republic of Suffering" (which handles how concepts of death and killing were dealt with through the civil war) show less

By focusing on the shared experience of death and loss Gilpin Faust frames the Civil War as a national experience rather than one of just North vs South. The author shows how the unprecedented carnage of modern warfare necessitated a shift in American understanding of death and dying that has pervaded the culture since. I can't help but read this account of crisis shaping culture in light of the current pandemic, especially the numbing effect of numbers.

Quote: "Americans had not just lost show more the dead; they had lost their own lives as they had understood them before the war." show less

A powerful work on death in the Civil War: This is a powerful book that deals with one aspect of the Civil War in a very different context than normal--death. Many books speak of the sanguinary nature of the Civil War, death due to battlefield trauma as well as death due to disease, accident, and so on. But this book, written by Drew Gilpin Faust, addresses death on a much broader basis. As a result, this is a powerful work.

One simple fact to begin: the number of Civil War soldiers who show more died is about equal to the number of American dead from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and Korea combined. The focus of the book is briefly stated at the outset (Page xv): "Beginning with individuals' confrontation with death and dying, the book explores how those experiences transformed society, culture, and politics in what became a broader republic of shared suffering."

Each chapter has a poignancy that is almost palpable. Chapter 1 focuses on the dying by soldiers. The effort to die a good death was one that manifest itself for many a soldier--Yankee and Rebel. One interesting issue--soldiers appeared to fear death by disease more than death in the heat of combat. Soldiers often carried letters to battle, containing their last words to families and loved ones in case they perished. This is an eye opening chapter.

Chapter 2 deals with the other side of the coin--killing the enemy. Many were torn by their Biblical desire to avoid killing others versus their duty to try to do so. Killing others sometimes changed troops, numbing human feeling and producing aftereffects.

Chapter 3 addresses burying the dead. After battles, there was often little time and the dead were buried in mass graves, often with no identification (no dog tags then). Soldiers felt an intense desire to decently bury the dead--but this was often more easily said than done. Chapter 4 deals with a related issue, naming those who died. Without identification, large numbers of dead soldiers were buried in anonymous graves. Even if reburied with more dignity, the names were still absent. The chapter addresses many issues, including the effort by loved ones to find the remains of their dead soldier(s).

Other chapters deal with how people tried to make sense of the death of their loved ones; the nature of mourning; the relationship of death and religion; obligations to the dead; wondering how many actually died.

A harsh truth (Page 267): "Nearly half the dead remained unknown, the fact of their deaths supposed but undocumented. . . ." And, the final sentence in the work (Page 271): "We still work to live with the riddle that they--the Civil War dead and their survivors alike--had to solve so long ago." A powerful book, one that will disturb many as they read it. But it also illuminates a little told side of the Civil War. Strongly recommended. . . . show less