Gendering Secession

Reveals, from the women's point of view, why South Carolina dared to leave the Union and stand alone. 

Reviews:

‘‘Women are like teabags,' Eleanor Roosevelt said. ‘We don't know our true strength until we're in hot water.' In this immersive history, DeVelvis takes us into the emotional worlds of women who had for decades sown the wind and would now reap the whirlwind. As DeVelvis shows, the Civil War involved more than a massive mobilization of women but a massive politicization as well. An intimate portrait of women overtaken by the very events they had themselves helped set in motion, Gendering Secession captures the maelstrom of politics as it feels in real time.' Stephen Berry, University of Georgia

‘Showcasing distinctive ways that women expressed their political sentiments during a critical period in American history, Gendering Secession will appeal to scholars and students of Civil War studies, southern history, gender studies, and women's history.' Anya Jabour, author of Sophonisba Breckinridge: Championing Women's Activism in Modern America

‘With empathy and insight, Melissa DeVelvis explains how elite South Carolina women endured secession's seasons and looming war. Her thorough research and close reading of diaries and letters penned by fascinating women yields a profound understanding of them as individuals and as an understudied group of political actors and storytellers. Gendering Secession is a must read for anyone who studies Civil War history and the U.S. South.' Jason Phillips, author of Looming Civil War: How Nineteenth-Century Americans Imagined the Future