Idgie Says:
What a fascinating book! I'm so glad Casey sent a copy my way. This is brilliant for the Civil War enthusiast, and at the same time an excellent look into the minds of women during the Civil War and that time in history in general. We are truly blessed that during this time of hardship and heartache, women took precious moments out of their struggle for daily survival to record their thoughts, feelings and daily endurances on paper so that we may feel and hear through them a clear picture of that time in history.
Love this book.
Also, if you haven't already, go check out another Casey book that the Dew reviewed - Confederado. A very well written and gripping novel about a Confederate Soldier far from home. Click HERE to read that review.
ISBN-13: 9781937875503
Publisher: Texas Review Press
Publication date: 9/2/2014
Overview
In their variety, the memoir, poetry, and fiction
included in this exciting new anthology show the transitory nature of
the literature of southern women who lived through a violent and
defining crossroads in their lives. In rare and rediscovered excerpts
and verses these women writers evidence the early hopes of a cause
destined to be lost, the propagandic rhetoric which accompanied it, and
the destruction ultimately visited upon them, their homes, and their
families. Paradoxically, even as these women defended and spoke out for a
cause concerned in part with extending human bondage, they found
themselves forced to experience the harsh wind of freedom and personal
agency as their husbands, sons, and fathers abandoned them to their
homes and, in many cases, never returned. The editor, who also serves as
editor of the literature section of the Virginia Foundation for
Humanities' Encyclopedia Virginia, has chosen these pieces
carefully and arranged them chronologically or thematically depending on
the content of each genre. A book that should prove useful to literary
scholars, historians, and anyone possessed on an interest in the Civil
War, Women of War brings to light a cornucopia of heretofore
obscure women's writings which enrich our understanding of a complex,
unsettling time unmatched in our nation's history.__________________________________________
Casey Clabough is the author of the novel Confederado, the travel memoir The Warrior's Path: Reflections Along an Ancient Route, the memoir SCHOOLED: Life Lessons of a Professor, a biography of legendary southern writer George Garrett, five scholarly books on southern and Appalachian literature, an edited collection of women's Civil War writing, and a creative writing textbook. Clabough serves as series editor of the multi-volume "Best Creative Nonfiction of the South," as editor of the literature section of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities' Encyclopedia Virginia, and as general editor of the literary journal James Dickey Review. His work has appeared in over a hundred anthologies and magazines, including Creative Nonfiction, the Sewanee Review, and the Virginia Quarterly Review. Clabough’s awards include the Bangladesh International Literary Award, an artist's fellowship from the Brazilian Government, and several U.S.-based fellowships. He lives on a farm in Appomattox County, Virginia and teaches at Lynchburg College.