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51st out of 419 books
—
423 voters
Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies)
When Confederate men marched off to battle, southern women struggled with the new responsibilities of directing farms and plantations, providing for families, and supervising increasingly restive slaves. Drew Faust offers a compelling picture of the more than half-million women who belonged to the slaveholding families of the Confederacy during this period of acute crisis,...more
Paperback, 326 pages
Published
October 13th 2004
by The University of North Carolina Press
(first published 1996)
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Give your sons, brothers, uncles, husbands and future husbands to a war that has been sold to you as winnable and God's will.
You've always being protected and now forced to learn how to care for household, children, self and your future self which will most likely be alone.
Watch yourself change over the course seven years, how would you be different? Would you embrace the new world or stubbornly cling to the old world?
Most lamented and stubbornly clung to the old world of privileged womanhood...more
You've always being protected and now forced to learn how to care for household, children, self and your future self which will most likely be alone.
Watch yourself change over the course seven years, how would you be different? Would you embrace the new world or stubbornly cling to the old world?
Most lamented and stubbornly clung to the old world of privileged womanhood...more
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Oct 14, 2012
Eileen
marked it as to-read
My friend Lucy is trying her hand at holding traditional salons in her home. At last night's first attempt, this book came up in the grab pile. I lost it to another attendee*, but made sure I added the info to my Goodreads list before she made off with it. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for it as I make my way through a few other recent civil war related titles I picked up at our library book sale next month.
*don't feel too bad for me. I ended up with a great book about Mars, instead.
In her study, Faust focuses narrowly on women from the slave-holding stratum of Southern society, the elite, during the American Civil War. Her point of view is the way in which these women--pre-and post-war--viewed themselves, and the consequences of changes in those views brought on by the war.[return][return]Pre-war, elite Southern women defined themselves, not as women, but as � ladies� , which involved definite and rigid preconceptions of race, class, and gender. White was superior to black...more
This book, written by Harvard's first female president, offers a historical survey of elite Southern women during the Civil War as read through their letters, diaries, citywide decrees, women's societies, and a variety of other popular and legal sources.
The portrait is not flattering. Faust debunks the myth that many white Southern women centralized production in their homes (war "home-factories"), that they successfully made their own products (i.e., especially cloth), that they managed their...more
The portrait is not flattering. Faust debunks the myth that many white Southern women centralized production in their homes (war "home-factories"), that they successfully made their own products (i.e., especially cloth), that they managed their...more
There’s poetry that makes you love poetry, and novels that make you love novels and history books that make you love reading history. And this is one of them – a fascinating, absorbing book about the changes the Civil War wrought on the culture of the American south. Death and hoopskirts and drudgery, fear and self-worth and deprivation and nursing and class wars, expectations, wimping out and grief and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
Anyone with the teensiest inclination to read this sh...more
Anyone with the teensiest inclination to read this sh...more
Very clearly written - just like our history papers were in college. Each chapter tackles a part of the subject so you can put the book down and pick it up over a long period of time and not be lost.
Faust debunks the romantic belief lots of us have that the majority of Southern women supported the war effort gladly. I liked that there was no judgment placed by the author on ladies' behavior during the war but the portrait did end up being not very flattering.
Faust debunks the romantic belief lots of us have that the majority of Southern women supported the war effort gladly. I liked that there was no judgment placed by the author on ladies' behavior during the war but the portrait did end up being not very flattering.
This was so fabulous. Just the way I like my history books--personal, filled with anecdotes and letters, and both intimate and sweeping at the same time. Even this very specific subset of people she chose to focus on (elite, educated slaveholding women during the American Civil War) represented such a range of experiences and impressions. Great to read in my Civil War class which could have so easily touched only on the soldiers' and politicians' experiences. It also inspired me to write my nurs...more
Debunks a lot of the myths about women in the south during the Civil War (such as women chipping in full scale with war production) while supporting other stereotypes (trying to maintain their sense of style, complete with ball gowns). Great study of an often-ignored demographic and even though the author has a chance to be outwardly feminist, she paints a fair and well-researched picture.
Focuses on upper middle class Southern white women during the Civil War: these womens' lives were turned upside down when their men were conscripted and they had to run the plantations, control the slaves and their own children, deal with a government that failed them, and make do with little books, food, or other needed supplies. These women were raised to submissive ladies and a massive war did not prepare them for the harsh realities of life.
Interesting documentation of how southern women's lives changed during the Civil War. Excerpts of letters from women add to the socio-economic look of gender and class. I did find it worth while. It is the kind of book you can read sections/chapters at a time if you do not want to read it cover to cover.
Yeah, I'm reading about Southern women during the Civil War. What's it to you? Some of them were awesome, most as backwards as the Confederacy in which they lived.
I had to read this book for my history class and I must say that it is a wonderful book from an entirely different prespective not often seen.
interesting book, but sort of strange to spend all that time discussing male/female roles, cross dressing etc and never once even mention the possibility of lesbian relationships in the south? published 1996, was this so not yet on the radar in academic circles?!? does not one diary or journal ever allude to such possibilities? really?!?
What happened when the men went off to fight the Civil War,this gives a gread read of the women left behind.
I really wanted this book to be better than it was. It really bothers me that the name of this book is not quite its subject matter. Yes, it is about women of the South's gentry class. But mother's of invention implies an ingenuity--that women of the south needed to find replacements for those items or things or services that the Civil War denied them--that Faust never really demonstrates. It is an interesting read, and it is very informative. But it was not quite what I expected, nor does its 2...more
This is an amazing book, beautifully written and incredibly researched.
Aug 06, 2011
Anne
added it
Very good resource on civil war women
This was a very academic read but thought provoking. A lot of research and energy is in this and it made me look at the role of women during this area in a completly different light.
In a Nutshell: Mothers of Invention is an exploration of women's lives and experiences on the home front in the South during the Civil War.
I loved this book. It was so interested how diverse women's experiences were. Some found their new freedom liberating, some found it stifling; some women frantically searched for husbands, others embraced the opportunity to live out their lives as single. I really liked the exploration of female friendships and the importance of novels and writing.
I loved this book. It was so interested how diverse women's experiences were. Some found their new freedom liberating, some found it stifling; some women frantically searched for husbands, others embraced the opportunity to live out their lives as single. I really liked the exploration of female friendships and the importance of novels and writing.
Very interesting study of white southern women during the Civil War. Rather academic but very readable, and I loved the tidbits from diaries and letters.
This is an EXCELLENT book from the perspective of women during the Civil War (particularly in the south). The author effectively portrays the plight of widows, wives, children, etc during America's worst war. It sounds like a boring book, but is actually one of the best I have ever read on the Civil War. An excellent read.
This book was academic in nature, but terribly interesting--lots of juicy bits about the transformation of gender in the South during the Civil War. It was right up my alley.
Interesting material--thus the 3 stars--but the writing style wasn't my favorite. The author's writing reminded me of my own 11th grade english essays (i.e. Not Good): a grouping of quotes interspersed with my own ideas and "interpretations." Good info, but really not that fun to read.
oh how quickly we forget... or rather how much we think we know...
an indepth look at the many varying ideas of what a woman should and shouldn't be in the South during the Civil War Period...
forget the stereotypes and read this book!
an indepth look at the many varying ideas of what a woman should and shouldn't be in the South during the Civil War Period...
forget the stereotypes and read this book!
really shifted my understanding of the south during the civil war and the reasons for its collapse in the final years. highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding the social changes taking place during the war and their impact.
This discussion of how women of the South dealt with the difficulties of the Civil War was fascinating, and it caused me to seek out the memoirs, diaries and other volumes which were used for its research.
This was the most influential book on my Honors thesis about white plantation wives during the Civil War. Very interesting and well written!
Interesng, a bit dry at times but one does a window into what these Southern ladies were thinking and how it informs attitudes in the south today.
Not a novel. Wish it was written by someone who wasn't so history factorial like. Still very dry but interesting.
A readable account of the way upper class southern women reacted to the civil war.
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Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust is an American historian, college administrator, and the president of Harvard University
More about Drew Gilpin Faust...
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