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Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
Audiobook15 hours

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War

Written by Karen Abbott

Narrated by Karen White

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Karen Abbott, the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and “pioneer of sizzle history” (USA Today), tells the spellbinding true story of four women who risked everything to become spies during the Civil War.

Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies.

After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The beautiful widow, Rose O’Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy, and used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives.

Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies’ descendants, Abbott seamlessly weaves the adventures of these four heroines throughout the tumultuous years of the war. With a cast of real-life characters including Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, detective Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emperor Napoleon III, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy draws you into the war as these daring women lived it.

Editor's Note

Exciting & engrossing…

This wholly engrossing account of four female spies risking everything during the Civil War will give you a new perspective on this turbulent time in U.S. history. Reveals the power in — and limits of — gender stereotypes.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateSep 2, 2014
ISBN9780062332165
Author

Karen Abbott

Karen Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City, American Rose, and, most recently, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. She has written for the New York Times Book Review, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian magazine, Salon, and other publications.

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Reviews for Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy

Rating: 3.8493975626506023 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An astonishing and at times hard-to-believe history about the influence of women spies upon the Civil War told through a close examination of four case studies. Two women on the side of the Confederacy and two women on the side of the Union are studied in depth. Whether they served through espionage, seduction, or simply work as a soldier in disguise. It was an odd time in American history and these women broke all molds to follow their passions and beliefs. Amazing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Four intertwining true tales of women who served their country during the civil war. Extremely interesting but confusing.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    One of the worst narrators I've come across. She sounds completely robotic - like that tiktok voice-over. Highly recommend skipping this one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author REALLY needed to make this a 4 part thing with each woman having her own section. Going back and forth was hard to listen to! Good book though.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I liked this book more in concept than I did in execution. At a certain point, it felt like being inundated with who did what: I felt like I had only the barest of connections with the material. I know that it is nonfiction and therefore, not a lot of room for internal dialogue, but the four women began to blur into one another. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't quite manage it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have a fascination with the Civil War that came to me somewhat late in life. I really did not like American History when I was in school; I was far more interested in European history. It took a trip to Gettysburg to stir my interest in the war that almost tore this country apart. Since then I have read quite a few books on the various battles and prominent people of the War Between the States.Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy details the stories of four women who risked their lives to support their respective side in the War. The book alternates chapters between the four women and I have to note that this was a bit disconcerting as a chapter would end at an emotional moment and it would be three chapters before it would pick up again and I would half forget where I was within each woman's story. It might have been easier on the reader to tell each woman's story in larger pieces before switching to the next one. That being written I did thoroughly enjoy the book. It read like fiction rather than non-fiction but given what these women did truth is indeed stranger than fiction.Each woman was incredibly remarkable in her own right; Belle Boyd was only 17 when she killed a Union soldier while defending a family member's honor. She used her wits to spy for the Confederacy. Elizabeth van Lew was a woman far ahead of her time living in Richmond. She was devastated when the South seceded and she used her personal fortune to help care for Union soldiers held in Confederate prisons and developed a very large spy network - even placing someone in the Davis mansion! Emma Edmonds lived her life as a man going so far as to enlist in the Union army. Rose Greenhow was a widow with friends in high places in Washington and she used them to learn the wheres and whats of the Union army's movements so she could pass it on to her friend, General Beauregard.It was a confusing time for the country and that confusion allowed for plenty of opportunities for women to use their skills in defense of their side. Little suspected at first because they were just women they did ultimately fall under suspicion and their sex did not keep them safe.Like the best of fiction, I had a hard time putting this one down and it will join the other books in my Civil War library. Most people expect non fiction to be dry and textbook like but this book is as far from that as you could imagine. It's like a suspense/thriller but of course we all know who wins in the end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Karen Abbott takes a look at four women of the American Civil War, two Northern and two Southern: Elizabeth Van Lew, Emma Edmonds (aka Frank Thompson), Rose Greenhow, and Belle Boyd. She sheds new light on the roles of women in the Civil War and highlights little-known activities of her subjects. This book shows how some women exploited social mores and beliefs to advance their respective wartime causes.

    Elizabeth Van Lew was a wealthy abolitionist living in Richmond who supported Union prisoners from her home. Emma Edmonds disguised herself as a man in order to become a Union soldier. Rose Greenhow, a socialite living in Washington DC, assembled a courier network of southern sympathizers. Belle Boyd used flirtation as a technique for obtaining information to pass to the Confederacy.

    I listened to the audiobook, read by Karen White in a clipped style. On the plus side, the narrative maintains the reader’s interest throughout. It is filled with period details, intrigue, setups, and daring schemes. It pulls no punches in describing the carnage of this war and gives the reader a sense of how horrible it truly was. On the minus side, the author states that she will point out where the journals do not match facts but does not follow through. As a result, it feels like the book repackages the women’s own memoirs and ends up conveying their biased viewpoints.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Civil War buffs and those interested in 19th century and women's history will definitely want to check out this book. Knowledge of the Civil War is not required to enjoy it.

    Abbott traces the heroic actions of four women during the Civil War. Two for the North and two for the South.

    For the South:
    Belle Boyd and Rose O'Neal Greenhow.
    In 1861 Boyd was 17, a bold, adventurous girl from Virginia. Her story begins when she shoots a Yankee at point blank range and doesn't bat an eye.
    Greenhow was 43 in 1861, a widow deeply intrenched in the politics of Washington, D.C. who used her connections to head a spy ring, passing on important information about northern plans to southern leadership.
    Both women are depicted as boisterously committed to their cause, but both also seemed to have a need of self-aggrandizement that made me, at times, roll my eyes at their words.

    For the North:
    Emma Edmonds, aka, Franklin Thompson and Elizabeth Van Lew.
    In 1861 Edmonds was 19 and had already been living as a man. Originally from Canada she enlisted in the northern army in Michigan as a man and served as a battlefield nurse, then as a letter carrier, and finally as a spy.
    Van Lew was 43 at the outbreak of the war, a wealthy Virginia "spinster" and abolitionist with deep ties to the North who helped northern soldiers and slaves escape and became the head of a spy network, passing on important information about southern plans to northern leadership.
    Both of these women are portrayed as more cautious and less flamboyant than their southern counterparts and come off as being much more grounded.

    There's a fifth woman involved who should be given accolades. No matter the risks taken by Boyd, Greenhow, Edmondson, and Van Lew, they were all white women which meant they'd perhaps have at least a chance of talking their way out of trouble if caught. It was war and spies were executed, so I don't mean to belittle their risks, but Mary Jane Bowser, on the other hand, was born a slave to the Van Lew family. She was freed after Elizabeth's father died and educated in Philadelphia. She'd been working as a servant for Elizabeth who asked her to go undercover as a slave servant and act as a sleeper agent in the home of not just any high ranking confederate, but in the mansion of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. Intense, right?

    While chronologically weaving the story of these women, Abbott includes tidbits about the war and what conditions were like for soldiers and civilians. Like how "depraved hucksters" sold "Yankee skulls" and rebel women wore brooches made out of the bones of soldiers scavenged from battlefields.

    One of the most startling mentions was about a widow who was too sick to move from her bed and whose house happened to be in the middle of the battlefield at Manassas. Her foot was shot off during the fighting and she died the next day.

    There is also a scene where Edmons/Thompson undergoes a physical examination to become a spy. She worried about her sex being uncovered, but the focus of the exam was on her head. Phrenology was supposed to reveal one's character:

    She silently prayed that her head did not betray her sex; phrenological studies on women often concluded that their organs of "adhesiveness," cautiousness, and procreation were so prominent as to elongate, and even deform, the middle of the back of the head. The doctor poked and prodded with his caliper and scratched notes on a pad. Emma felt stifled inside her frock coat, drops of sweat sliding down between her breasts. He determined, finally, that Frank Thompson indeed had the head of a man, with "largely developed" organs of secretiveness and combativeness. Emma acted as though she'd expected to hear as much, and took the oat of allegiance.

    Famous figures of the time make their way into the story and add to its richness: Nathaniel Hawthorne is mentioned as are Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, and Mary Chestnut. Thomas Carlyle plays a role, as does Napoleon III. Then there's Pinkerton and his crew, including at least one female detective. As always, Mary Todd Lincoln is mocked for her plainness and northern General McClellan is portrayed as a do-nothing general. However, on the southern side of the fence, instead of General Lee stealing the show Stonewall Jackson gets much more ink in this book.

    This is a thick book, 544 pages, and at times it felt like it. It seems that the repetitive structure of going back and forth between four stories and the lack of a sharper unifying drive within the narrative made it was slow going here & there. However, the book was never a slog to get through, it simply isn't a swift historical narrative so don't expect a read like, say, The Devil in the White City.

    One historical inaccuracy jumped out at me from the second page of the preface where Abbott sets the scene of troops pouring into each capital in the spring of 1861. She mentions that "taps" is played at night. That gave me pause because having read The Killer Angels earlier this summer where the bugle calls of General Butterfield are discussed and which led me to read a bit more about Butterfield, it is well documented that Taps wasn't written until July 1862. Some may excuse this as a minor inaccuracy, but it did cause me to be on guard as a reader.

    For example, Abbott makes a point of stating that she didn't make up any dialog, but she did, it seems, imagine scenes that, while adding some spice (such as Belle waiting for General Butler with her hands on her hips and impatiently tapping her foot) or giving closure to a section (like Rose "spreading" her daughter across her lap to tell her a story and making sure the good guys win) also caused me to stop and wonder if these things really happened. Leaving the flow of a narrative to check footnotes for documentation is not something a storyteller wants the reader to do on a regular basis.

    The above are minor complaints compared to the overall enjoyment of reading about these courageous women who risked their lives to fight for what they believed in. This is an engaging and important book, one that shows women's active participation in the waging of warfare long before they had the right to vote.

    (review copy, read for TLC Book Tours)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Extraordinary compilation of historical documentation! Karen Abbott's extensive research in combination with an articulate and eloquent writing style provides a fascinating portrayal of four women that valiantly gave service to their country during the Civil War. There are almost limitless examples of their networking with persistence and without hesitation in their actions to utilize their strengths to push forward their hopes of the outcome of the war."Karen Abbott examines the role of four women during the Civil War who risk their lives for their beliefs. Each chapter shifts in focus, alternating between Union and Confederate sympathizers...Drawing from original source material, Abbott makes these women and their histories come alive, illuminating the women’s war and how these unsung heroines influenced the course of history...Belle Boyd and Rose O’Neal Greenhow are two women whose allegiances lay with the Confederacy...Two other women Abbott highlights, Emma Edmonds and Elizabeth Van Lew, assist the Union in different ways." ~from BookMark: "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy" By Karen Abbott. Article by Adison Godfrey • March 10, 2016.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott is a fascinating story about four women, patriots to their own beliefs, who took a stand during the Civil War. Two were loyal Confederates and two were for the North. By using diaries, eyewitness accounts, contemporary news articles and official records the story of these four women gives us a glimpse of how women overcame the rigid roles there cast into and managed to influence the War in many ways.I admit to having a favourite among these women. Canadian Emma Edmondson, disguised herself as a man and calling herself Frank Thompson joined the Union Army as a private for Company F, 2nd Michigan Infantry. Frank eventually found herself donning disguises and crossing military lines to spy on the Confederates. All of these women, Emma (Frank), Belle, Elizabeth and Rose, sacrificed something of themselves in order to serve their respective countries and this up-close and personal look at them made for an engrossing read.Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is a portrait of four strong women who became ground-breakers and helped to pave the way for others to appreciate women’s abilities. The book is well researched and gives the reader a good overview of both the political and military viewpoints of the day.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Pretty good book with interesting stories about four women of the US Civil War. I liked a couple of them but all four were fascinating. Well researched. Book was sometimes hard to follow as the audio transitions were not always clearly enunciated and i frequently found myself reading about one of them and thinking about the former. That all is historically correct and the dialogue is genuine was always on my mind. Excellent and interesting book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Solid 4 stars. I really enjoyed the tales of Elizabeth and Emma as they were exceedingly smart and brave (and on the right side of history). Belle was am empty-headed ninny who cared more about who she hooked up with than the war and Rose was a big ole racist so it was hard for me to care too much about her fate, but Emma's stint as a soldier and Elizabeth's prowess as a spy were fascinating.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The stories of four women who were involved in spying or soldiering during the US Civil War are told - in a narrative non-fiction format. The book switches from woman to woman as it follows their stories chronologically. At first this made it a bi hard for me to follow and I would think "now which one is this?" when it switched to someone new. But after a while I got to know them pretty well and had no problems telling them apart. Abbott's style of narrating their actions and words (often direct quotations from journals and diaries) as if she's writing a story instead of dry history made the story very interesting and the women seem like people I could relate to, not far off figures in history. The bravery of keeping secrets and trying to aid "the enemy" while your neighbors are watching your every move really came to life for me. The pathos of having to care for a child while in prison, the desperate circumstances that would cause you to don men's clothing and join the army, and the desire to make your name known by boldly defying the enemy all came across quite vividly.Parts of the book I read in print, and parts I listened to on audio. The book is quite lengthy, and after an hour or so of reading the print version I would get a bit tired of it. But the audiobook narrator (Karen White) did an remarkable job of dramatizing the dialog and I found it very enjoyable to listen to her performance. Aside from it's length, I found this an intriguing look at the lengths women went to in serving their countries, the cause, or their own ends during a brutal war. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in history, especially from the female point of view.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Joy's review: Abbott draws on the journals, memoirs, other historical accounts to tell the story of four incredible women during the civil war; two Northern and two Southern partisans. Regardless of their political opinions, all were brave, courageous, and daring. True stories that read like a novel; just goes to show that you can't make this stuff up. For me, almost the best part is that this book got me to re-watch the Ken Burns Civil War series. This book and the series pare well together to present the sweeping narrative of this violent history and how "everyday people" coped with the war.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This non-fiction book about four women and their roles during the Civil War reads like a novel. I found myself needing to "read just one more chapter" because I had to find out how Elizabeth or Emma's current crisis resolved itself. I hadn't realized what a sieve Washington, D. C., was and that it was full of Southern sympathizers who were sending information to the Confederacy. Belle didn't have a discreet bone in her body and Mary Chestnut said that for Rose everything was for sale. There are the grim and gruesome details of killing covered by this book so if this bothers you skip over Emma/Frank Thompson's part as she served in makeshift hospitals and dealt with the aftermath of the battles when not being fired on by Confederate soldiers. Excellent and interesting book
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    What attracted me to this story was its intriguing subject matter. I wanted to know about these women that were strong and had convictions. What I got is ... well, I'm still sorting that one out.

    If I read this as a fiction, then I'm on board with the story. However, this was not written as such, and because it was presented to me as non-fiction and part of American history, I was hoping for the content to be as historically accurate as possible.

    In the end, I'll say this. This was a well written, albeit not as well documented story and I'll leave it at that.

    Melanie for b2b

    Complimentary copy provided by the publisher
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The stories of several women that spied for the Union and Confederate causes during the U.S. Civil war. Well written with a compelling narrative utilizing archival records.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very interesting information. I learned a lot of all the sacrifices the women gave during the civil war. There were a lot of brave women back then.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting book about women who assisted in the Civil War. It was full of information I never heard about. Never knew women who assisted in the Civil War wrote books that were best sellers. There was a lot of information in the book and sometimes I felt like the book would be better if it were shorter. In addition, the book is about four different women. The chapters change from one story to the next. Sometimes I got two stories confused. (But that just be my not paying close enough attention and not the fault of the writer.) Overall, it was a really interesting book. I must say that I did not particularly like some of the women who were portrayed in the book. But the women were definitely interesting.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Abbott looks at 4 women who served their respective countries during the Civil War: Belle Boyd and Rose Greenhow of the Confederacy, and Emma Edmonds and Elizabeth Van Lew of the US. While Edmonds was the soldier and Van Lew certainly a spy--I am not clear on who was the Liar and the Temptress, because Boyd and Greenhow both acted as spies as well. And post-Civil War, Edmunds was certainly a bit of a Liar.

    So this book is interesting, though it jumps around a lot. Too much. Four pages on this woman, then 4 on that. Then 8 here, but we'll put 2 women in this one! It was not always obvious upon starting a chapter who it would be discussing.

    But really, I found the most interesting person in the book to be Mary Jane Bowser, the freed slave Van Lew educated and placed as a servant in Jefferson Davis' household. Why hasn't a book been written about her? Photographic memory. Well educated though southerners assumed, having been born a slave, she was not. The perfect spy, right there in Davis household, supplying so much vital info. But did she? On p 449 in the notes Abbott admits her actual role, position, and importance to Van Lew's ring is unknown and circumstantial (and she gives little evidence in the notes). Was David really suspicious of a spy in his midst? Was she really a spy in his household? Did she really have a photographic memory? Or is Abbott just playing loosey goosey with known facts and not writing good history (she is a journalist....).

    **And here is my standard pet peeve about the lack of footnotes/endnotes noted in the text itself. I hate hate hate the page-number listed notes in the back. So hard to refer to effectively.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A thoroughly accessible history of four women active in the Civil War. Intertwined with their histories is the larger story of the war and the aftermath for each women. Engrossing, fast-paced and very readable.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really enjoyed this nonfiction read. My one big compliant is that the four women's stories blended together for me. I kept confusing them. Still I would definitely recommend this for anyone who enjoys the Civil War, historical nonfiction, or stories about strong women.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastic book! The true stories of these four women is as compelling a read as any work of fiction. It is very easy to forget that these women really did risk everything to champion their cause during the American Civil War. Both sides of the conflict are represented two times. The heroines used many tools including disguise, complex codes, intricate spy networks, seduction and in one case posing as a man in order to enlist. The fact that they were women helped hide their activities because contemporary reasoning was that women did not do such things. This amazing book was copiously researched and includes an extensive list of notes, bibliography and index. The notes are by page number, not interupting the text with reference numbers. I am historically inclined, but I believe this book would be a great read for fans of fiction as well as nonfiction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As a woman, what would make you go to war in 1861? To be beside your husband? Pure loyalty to the cause? Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy delves into the history of four courageous women who took part in the Civil War. High spirited seventeen-year-old Belle Boyd began packing a Colt 1849 pistol. When early in the war, Union soldiers invaded their home and were beginning to stronghold her mother, she shot and killed one. They then turned their attention to her. “She heard herself speak before she had a chance to contemplate her words: ‘Only those who are cowards shoot women,’ she said, and spread open her arms. ‘Now shoot!’” Belle (Siren of the Shenandoah) was best known for her work as a Confederate Spy providing valuable information to Stonewall Jackson.Emma Edmondson is of real interest to me as I had many years ago been surprised that as many as 300 – 400 women went to battle for both sides – Union and Confederate. She became Frank Thompson, a Union soldier serving as a private for Company F, 2nd Michigan Infantry and began serving in the nation’s capital. His comrades knew that “despite his slight stature and oddly smooth face he had enjoyed a reputation as a ladies’ man before the outbreak of the war, squiring them around town in the finest horse and buggy …” Emma served for two years without being detected. She also served as a spy and was very clever with her disguises.The other two women to which this novel focuses is Rose O’Neale Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew. Rose O’Neale, a Washington, DC socialite, became a Confederate spy using the friendships she’d attained with generals, senators, and high-ranking military officers to send encoded messages about the Union’s movements. Elizabeth Van Lew had requested and been given permission to bring items of comfort – books, food, and clothing — to the Union prisoners of war being held in Richmond, VA. She would later help prisoners to escape.The novel details each year (1861 – 1865); the battles of the war; and the generals that led them. However, it is primarily a story of these women. It is told as a story, yet per the author’s note, any of the quoted script was taken directly from “a book, diary, letter, archival note, or transcript …” There is no “invented dialogue.” It is quite comprehensive (433 pages). There are actual pictures of these women and additional images throughout the novel. Even though it was told in story format, at times it felt a bit stiff like reading a textbook instead of fiction. I loved how these women became very creative about hiding messages. They’d sew ciphered notes in the hems of their skirts, or roll them within their hair. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A interesting story - or rather stories - but not the easiest to listen to in Audiobook form. The book weaves the stories of four women who participated in the US Civil War as spies or soldiers or fancy call girls, or all of those. Each story was interesting but it jumped around a bit too much for my taste; in audio form it was hard to catch the transfers of one story to another so made for difficult listening. The narrator was excellent, it was just the format of the story that was hard. Overall: highly recommend in book form; sorta recommend in audio form
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Karen Abbott has written a well researched narrative that tells the true story of four courageous women who wanted to serve their President and their country, although some of us may not support the President or side for which they fought. Perhaps the true origin of the Civil War lies in economic issues, but freedom for the slave was a huge part of the ultimate sacrifice and result, and it is the way it is remembered by most Americans.During that time, women were not afforded the same opportunities they have today, could not participate in the war effort aside from knitting socks or raising money or entertaining the troops, feeding them and occasionally dancing with them. Four women defied protocol and found a way to support the cause they believed in, even when it was frowned upon. They could not enlist to serve their country; they could only listen carefully to the things they heard around them, using the information to try to accomplish success for the side they supported. After proving themselves, they were often then called upon to do more for their side, sometimes placing themselves in great danger. The women were forced to use guile and feminine wiles to accomplish their goals. One woman went so far as to assume a different sex to take on the role of a male soldier, appearing on the battlefield and fighting along with them, engaging the enemy and providing whatever aid she could and whatever duty her commanding officers demanded, as she fooled everyone around her who believed she was just a young man of slight build and carriage. Two of the women supported the cause of the south and two supported the north. Two were on the side of Jefferson Davis and two on the side of Abraham Lincoln. They were the Presidents of their warring sides, the Confederacy vs. the Union. The Confederate supporters were Belle Boyd, the temptress and Rose O’Neal Greenow, the accomplished liar. The Union supporters were Emma Edmondson, alias Frank Thompson, the soldier, and Elizabeth Van Lew who organized a spy network and Underground Railroad of sorts, hiding some in a secret place in her home. She even engaged the services of her own paid servant, a freed slave, Mary Bowser, who was willing to help her and risked her own life along with Elizabeth. If you don't allow politics to color your reading of the book, you will find it contains a good piece of history as well as creative storytelling. The women take shape on the page, coming across sharply as they pursue their own politics, in their own particular way. Each was motivated by different values and different backgrounds, each was young and perhaps naïve, but each was motivated by goals they believed were noble. Few suspected a woman of being involved in spying or soldiering so they often got away with their trickery longer than one would suspect, although one woman, impersonating a male soldier, showed her true identity when she became pregnant and delivered a child on the battlefield. I listened to an audiobook and believe a print copy would be better since they stories switched back and forth from character to character and often the segue did not seem smooth. Also, sometimes the stories seemed repetitive as the same time frame existed for each of the characters as events were described. Although the reader was very good, it was sometimes hard to keep the several threads of the story straight.The book brought the Civil War to life through the experiences of these women, and the author followed their lives until their deaths. It was really a good read and was very informative about an important piece of history. More women were involved than one would have expected and they showed bravery in the face of grave danger, often facing arrest and imprisonment, often being wounded in battle and even making the ultimate sacrifice, dying in the pursuit of their assignments.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This fascinating account tells the tales of four women: Belle Boyd, Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Emma Edmonds and Elizabeth Van Lew. Two were spies for the Confederacy and two for the Union, but all four had passionate ideals, high intelligence, and strong convictions.Belle Boyd, sassy and determined to make a name for herself, shot a Yankee soldier (at least apparently in self defense) early in the war. Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a widow, used her skills to become friendly with high ranked officials and send the info to Confederate higher ups. Emma Edmonds of Michigan had been masquerading as a man a couple of years before the war, and joined up as "Frank," keeping her secret from the men with which she served. And Elizabeth Van Lew defied her Richmond neighbors and society with her outspoken support for abolition and helping Union soldiers captured during the war. Their stories intertwine in this account, roughly in chronological order. Actually, I could have done with a more clear timeline because I often became confused just when things were occurring, except for a few days that I knew off the top of my head. Still, this is a fascinating account of four women who had a huge impact on the American Civil War in a time when women didn't yet have the right to vote. The writing is accessible and clearly well-researched; I just wish there were a bibliography with a list of books to read next.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this book, The timeline seemed to flow with the characters. Interesting to see how disorganized things were and they still managed to fight a war.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've lived the north and south of the Civil War aftermath: born and raised in the DC area, moved to a border state (home of the Dred-Scott decision for most of my adolescence, and then settled here in the South for the past 40 or so years. There are many aspects, besides the politics of the war, that I find fascinating. The fierce loyalty some folks have for their homeland, for instance, or the burning desire to fight for their personal beliefs. To me, fighting means taking an intellectual stand, not the physical personal risks the four women in Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy did. The women, each fully dedicated to their cause, are skillfully depicted by Karen Abbott. I heard her talk about the book on NPR, and the interview fascinated me so much, I immediately sought out the book.The four women are very different in personality and approach to how they helped. Belle Boyd was flamboyant, rambunctious, daring in an overt way, very much an extroverted young woman. I found myself wondering what labels a psychiatrist would slap on her were she to end up on a couch today. I suppose as a kid I sometimes fantasized about passing as a boy so that I could have a more rough and tumble life (I grew up in the late 50's), but I am not sure I would have tried to pass as a male and join the Union army, as Emma Edmonds did. It's interesting, also to note, that there are several books out of late about women disguised as men and fighting in the Civil War. Edmonds experience was spurred not by the desire to be next to her sweetheart, unlike most of these women on other books, but to escape a bad home life and put distance between her present and past. Rose O’Neale Greenhow was the only one of the four women I really knew anything about beforehand, some of which I "knew" being incorrect. A clever and cunning spy, she was able to pass messages and information even when under house arrest by the Yankees. Elizabeth Van Lew, who lived in Richmond, was shunned as an abolitionist, while getting valuable information to the North, and aiding the escape of many Union prisoners and Southern slaves.Oddly, though, the two people I want to read more about are not these four women, but "Little Rose", the youngest daughter of Greenhow, and Mary Elizabeth Bowser, a freed slave that Van Lew helped place in the southern white house as part of her spy ring. Bowser was both educated and possessed of a photographic memory, thus was able to gain access and recall intimate details of the strategy and plans discussed by Jefferson Davis and his officers.A long, but interesting read. Tags: heard-about-it-on-npr, nonfiction, places-i-have-been, read, set-in-my-stomping-grounds, set-in-the-south, taught-me-something, thank-you-charleston-county-library
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have a fascination with the Civil War that came to me somewhat late in life. I really did not like American History when I was in school; I was far more interested in European history. It took a trip to Gettysburg to stir my interest in the war that almost tore this country apart. Since then I have read quite a few books on the various battles and prominent people of the War Between the States.Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy details the stories of four women who risked their lives to support their respective side in the War. The book alternates chapters between the four women and I have to note that this was a bit disconcerting as a chapter would end at an emotional moment and it would be three chapters before it would pick up again and I would half forget where I was within each woman's story. It might have been easier on the reader to tell each woman's story in larger pieces before switching to the next one. That being written I did thoroughly enjoy the book. It read like fiction rather than non-fiction but given what these women did truth is indeed stranger than fiction.Each woman was incredibly remarkable in her own right; Belle Boyd was only 17 when she killed a Union soldier while defending a family member's honor. She used her wits to spy for the Confederacy. Elizabeth van Lew was a woman far ahead of her time living in Richmond. She was devastated when the South seceded and she used her personal fortune to help care for Union soldiers held in Confederate prisons and developed a very large spy network - even placing someone in the Davis mansion! Emma Edmonds lived her life as a man going so far as to enlist in the Union army. Rose Greenhow was a widow with friends in high places in Washington and she used them to learn the wheres and whats of the Union army's movements so she could pass it on to her friend, General Beauregard.It was a confusing time for the country and that confusion allowed for plenty of opportunities for women to use their skills in defense of their side. Little suspected at first because they were just women they did ultimately fall under suspicion and their sex did not keep them safe.Like the best of fiction, I had a hard time putting this one down and it will join the other books in my Civil War library. Most people expect non fiction to be dry and textbook like but this book is as far from that as you could imagine. It's like a suspense/thriller but of course we all know who wins in the end.