Description: During the Civil War, the enlistment of three out of every four white men of military age altered forever the structures of southern society, burdening white women with unaccustomed responsibilities and offering slave women new hardships and new opportunities. Yet, despite the wealth of books on the Civil War experience, there have been few that have addressed the role of southern women: how they contributed to the Confederate war effort, how they were affected by the conflict, and generally how their role has been regarded by history.

In the last decade historians have begun to examine more carefully the broader social issues of the Civil War, as well as the role that gender played in the conflict. In the same vein as the best-selling book on antebellum slave life, Before Freedom Came, A Woman's War intends to move Southern women to the center stage of Civil War history. Inspired by the Museum of the Confederacy's centennial exhibition, this volume includes essays by some of the country's most prominent Civil War historians; Drew Gilpin Faust, Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, Joan E. Cashin, Thavolia Glymph, John M. Coski, Amy R. Feely, and George C. Rable. Topics range from the experiences of female slave contrabandists, to the lives of rural and nonelite refugee women, to the effects of the postwar era on African-American women, to the legacy of the Civil War in women's suffrage movements. Enhanced by excerpts from diaries, letters, and other primary documents, as well as numerous illustrations from the exhibition, A Woman's War offers an unforgettable and long-overdue portrait of Southern women during the Civil War period.

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