Confederate Women.

Confederate Women. Edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn. (Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing Company, 2004. Pp. 174. Paper, $14.95, ISBN 1-58980-186-5; First published in 1996 as Valor and Lace: Roles of Confederate Women 1861-1865 by Southern Heritage Press.)

The appealing cover of this book will entice readers to purchase this collection of essays that claims to shed light on women during the Civil War. The volume is divided into ten chapters illustrative of white women's roles in the South: mother, member of the home front, defender of the homestead, soldier, fiancee, nurse, prisoner, poet, caretaker of the dead, and servant of God and man. Some of the contributions are very short biographies of individual women--such as Charlotte S. Branch (mother), Margaret Junkin Preston (poet), and Mary Amarinthia Yates Snowden (caretaker of the dead)--that attempt to reveal the extraordinary actions of ordinary women. The editor suggests that these biographies illustrate southern women's inner strength, "patriotic love of country, faith in God, and dedication to family," which they garnered "with no assistance from therapists or support groups" (pp. 9-10). The editor hopes that readers will "admire their compassion [and] suffering" and "be inspired by their examples as role models" (p. 11).

Other contributions aim to place groups of white women in their historical context to argue for their importance in the development of southern culture. These more scholarly essays, such as those by James A. Buttimer and Anne J. Bailey, are well worth reading. Buttimer's research regarding the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy is part of a much larger trend in the history profession that seeks to examine the enormous impact religious orders have had on society, particularly in times of crisis. Buttimer also follows current scholarship with his emphasis on cooperation between Catholics and Protestants in making progressive societal changes. He argues that the alliance contributed to the tremendous expansion of health-care services in the postwar South.

Bailey examines a group of gun-toting southern women dubbed "Nancy Harts," a female militia group established by current and former students of the LaGrange Female Institute in Georgia. Bailey argues that while these women "invaded one of the most masculine of activities," they did not attempt to reinvent gender roles or subvert southern cultural norms (p. 51). In fact, the Nancy Harts quickly relinquished their decidedly male roles as military defenders as soon as the war ended. Bailey's essay, building on the work of notable scholars such as Drew Gilpin Faust, adds much to our knowledge of southern white women as agents of change.

Of course, there are worthwhile sections in this volume other than the scholarly essays outlined above. Barbara Duffey's piece, for instance, reproduces extensive quotations from out-of-print books that illuminate Confederate women's lives. But overall, the unevenness in the quality of contributions--particularly the literary license used by some of the biographers--will prevent college instructors from using this book in the classroom.

Northern Kentucky University 

DEBRA MEYERS