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Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern... |
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Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern...
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by Drew Gilpin Faust
Sales Rank: 49438
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List Price: $19.95
$19.95
At Amazon
on 4-19-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 326 pages
Published by: The University of North Carolina Press; New Ed edition October 13, 2004
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0807855731
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0807855737
Book Dimensions:
9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
Weighs: 1 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
Faust (The Creation of Confederate Nationalism) makes a major contribution to both Civil War historiography and women's studies in this outstanding analysis of the impact of secession, invasion and conquest on Southern white women. Antebellum images based on helplessness and dependence were challenged as women assumed an increasing range of social and economic responsibilities. Their successes were, however, at best mixed, involving high levels of improvisation. The failure of Southern men to sustain their patriarchal pretensions on the battlefield also broke the prewar gender contract of dependence in return for protection. Women of the South after 1865 confronted both their doubt about what they could accomplish by themselves and their desire to avoid reliance on men. The women's rights movement in the South thus grew from necessity and disappointment-a sharp contrast to the ebullient optimism of its Northern counterpart. Faust's provocative analysis of a complex subject merits a place in all collections of U.S. history. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
YA-Privileged, upper-class white women of the Confederacy faced overwhelming changes in their lives as men went off to war and they struggled with new and demanding responsibilities. Having to run farms and manage often insubordinate slaves, learn to perform menial domestic chores, cope with loneliness and shortages of food and clothing, and provide support to the army thrust them into situations that their gender had never coped with in antebellum southern life. Those women found themselves needing to learn new skills, often contrary to their social upbringing. Some retreated into themselves, but many, moved not only by patriotism but also by a reluctant new freedom, crossed social barriers to become teachers, nurses, shopkeepers, and writers. Forced by necessity, they reinvented themselves. Through their own words from diaries, journals, and letters, and from newspapers, Faust carefully analyses the issues of gender and class as well as attitudes regarding race that permeated these women's lives. A thought-provoking study that will be an great supplement for women's studies and American History classes.
Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School Library, Upper Marlboro, MD
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (Paperback)
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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Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern...
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Price: $19.95
Updated on 4-19-2008.
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