Divided Houses
Gender and the Civil War
Published on 11. February 1993
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-0-19-508034-6 (ISBN)
Description
Historians Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber have edited a collection of essays that deal with the question of women and the Civil War, as well as related problems. Divided Houses demonstrates that the abolitionist movement was strongly allied with nineteenth-century feminism, and shows how the ensuing debates over sectionalism and, eventually, secession, were often couched in terms of gender.
Through the course of the book, many fascinating subjects are explored, such as the new "manly" responsibilities both black and white men had thrust upon them as soldiers; the effect of war on Southern women's daily actions on the homefront; the essential part Northern women played as nurses and spies; the war's impact on marriage and divorce; women's roles in the guerilla fighting; even the wartime dialogue on interracial sex. There is also a rare look at how gender affected the experience of freedom for African-American children. In addition, there is an introducion by Pulitzer Prize winning historian James McPherson.
Through the course of the book, many fascinating subjects are explored, such as the new "manly" responsibilities both black and white men had thrust upon them as soldiers; the effect of war on Southern women's daily actions on the homefront; the essential part Northern women played as nurses and spies; the war's impact on marriage and divorce; women's roles in the guerilla fighting; even the wartime dialogue on interracial sex. There is also a rare look at how gender affected the experience of freedom for African-American children. In addition, there is an introducion by Pulitzer Prize winning historian James McPherson.
Reviews / Votes
"Excellent--exactly what I was looking for."--Gretchen Green, Rockhurst College"Offers a broader, more diverse view of the Civil War than previous volumes."--The Journal of Mississippi History
"Excellent collection--more of the same needs to be published!"--Mort Stewart, Western Washington University
"The essays make us think, provoke us to question. In a class of neo-Confederate Virginians, what better book to use! I love it."--John Herbert Roper, Emory and Hery College
"Excellent"--K. M. Startup, Williams Baptist College
"An excellent example of social history and its many possibilities. A major void in Civil War history has now been admirably filled."--William R. Wantland, Northwest Nazarene College
"[A] highly original and pathbreaking collection of essays...[T]he essays are especially valuable because they treat the experiences of ordinary people--black and white, male and female--in both North and South...The editors' introduction and epilog and an extensive bibliography make this an especially useful source for scholars and teachers."--Library Journal
"Finally the study of gender is out of the Civil War closet. Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber have collected the latest and best historical essays of the emerging scholarship on the social history of the Civil War. Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War ranges from issues of masculinity and femininity to the effect of war on African-American children. This is a thoroughly useful, entirely readable, historically notable volume stitched together by
the perceptive commentary of the author-editors."--Jean H. Baker, Goucher College
"Wonderful to have information both men and women, black and white, north and south, masculinity and feminity, individuals and households--all in one place."--Marilyn Dell, Virginia Wesleyan College
"Divided Houses should be required reading for all interested in how gender influences historical events, not just for students of the Civil War...[It] proves that exhaustively-mined evidence can still yield new insights when carefully considered."--Wanda Ellen Wakefield, Southern Historian
"An excellent job."--American Academic Review
"Divided Houses should be required reading for all interested in how gender influences historical events, not just for students of the Civil War. Proves that exhaustively-mined evidence can still yield new insights when carefully considered."--Wanda Ellen Wakefield, SUNY-Buffalo
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
halftones, tables
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
617 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-508034-6 (9780195080346)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Catherine Clinton is Visiting Professor of African-American Studies at Harvard University. She is the author of The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South, The Other Civil War: American Women in the Nineteenth Century, and Portraits of American Women (with G.B. Barker-Benfeld).
Nina Silber is Assistant Professor of History at Boston University and is the author of the forthcoming The Romance of Reunion: Northerners and the South, 1865-1900.
Nina Silber is Assistant Professor of History at Boston University and is the author of the forthcoming The Romance of Reunion: Northerners and the South, 1865-1900.