Reviews for Amazing Women of the Civil War: Fascinating True Stories of Women Who Made a Difference

The average rating for Amazing Women of the Civil War: Fascinating True Stories of Women Who Made a Difference based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-11-28 00:00:00 John M Rowehl I really enjoyed this! Some of the women were figures I had read about in books covering a similar subject, such as Emma Edmonds, Belle Boyd, and Rose O'Neal Greenhow in "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy" and others were completely new to me. I can excuse the few grammatical mistakes I came across and Mr. Garrison's tendency to use toundabout descriptors and adjectives when simple pronouns or names could do as he was 80 years old when this was published. it did read more overall as an entry level introduction to a gallery of prominent women in the Civil War rather than a comprehensive work of scholarship, but i do not think the latter was Mr. Garrison's intent in writing this book. I think this is a casual and accessible starting point for those who would like to know more about select women in the Civil War.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-09-30 00:00:00 Josiah Grimmitt After reading "They Fought Like Demons", about women posing as men to become soldiers during the Civil War, this book seemed very lightweight, based on hearsay and not fact. Kind of like reading "The National Enquirer" as compared to "The New York Times". See the chapter on the Missing Women of Roswell! There is also an apparent bias in this book toward the Confederacy. In the first chapter, the author describes Union soldier Sarah Emma Edmonds' memoirs as "clearly the product of a vivid imagination". She is one of the best documented of the women soldiers, having received a pension from the US government for her service based, in part, on the testimony of her superior officers. Yet the author accepts the actions of Confederate spy Belle Boyd based solely on "tradition, supported by Boyd's memoirs". Why the difference in treatment of these two? Likewise, for a book about women there are an awful lot of discussions of and pictures of men. Nearly half the pictures in the book are of men. While it is nice to look at historical photos, I would have preferred the focus of the book to be what its title purported: women of the Civil War. Some of the statements of the author are just downright condescending. For example, a comment in the chapter about Emma Sansom: "She died wearing tattered homespun, but knowing that she was the only female ever to climb aboard the warhorse of Nathan B. Forrest and ride with him. No Southern woman who survived the war years could have imagined a more rewarding memory." Really?