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

Karen Abbott (Goodreads Author)

3.73 · Rating details · 15,093 ratings · 2,038 reviews

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, ...more

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Hardcover, 513 pages

Published September 2nd 2014 by Harper (first published July 1st 2014)

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Sep 07, 2014 Mara rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, non-fiction, war, criminal-minds, gender, civil-war, spycraft, 2014-reads

Four Civil War femme fatales? Yes, please.

This book is EVERYTHING!* It's like A League of Their Own had a lovechild with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and Doris Kearns Goodwin's (DKG) Team of Rivals , and seasoned with an extra dash of siren song. (Or does one not season children?)

Actually, it's hard to dream up a single concoction to represent all that is contained in Karen Abbott's Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy . It is a unique breed of narrative non-f ...more

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Jul 02, 2018 Matt rated it really liked it

Shelves: american-civil-war

“Frank stepped forward. He was five foot six, two inches shorter than the average Union army recruit, solid but thin. He told the doctor he was nineteen years old, twenty come December. The doctor’s eyes skimmed his shoulders and back, torso and legs. He coiled his fingers around Frank’s wrist and lifted up his hand. He turned it over as if it were a tarot card, studying its nuances, noting the absence of calluses, the smooth palm, the slim and tapered fingers…[T]he doctor marked Frank Thompson ...more

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Dec 22, 2014 Carly marked it as dnf

DNF.

I made it over halfway, but I give up.

To me, the most important aspect of nonfiction is that it be nonfiction. Unfortunately, writers of pop nonfiction usually go for the most sensational versions of the truth that they can find.

To my mind, this book falls into that trap. Abbott's book is clearly well-researched, but she tends to present as fact information from such dubious sources as the women's own memoirs or stories from Harper's Weekly. Since many of the women parleyed their life storie DNF.

I made it over halfway, but I give up.

To me, the most important aspect of nonfiction is that it be nonfiction. Unfortunately, writers of pop nonfiction usually go for the most sensational versions of the truth that they can find.

To my mind, this book falls into that trap. Abbott's book is clearly well-researched, but she tends to present as fact information from such dubious sources as the women's own memoirs or stories from Harper's Weekly. Since many of the women parleyed their life stories into various careers, it was in their own interests to make them as sensational as possible.

I also felt that Abbott doesn't carefully delineate from her own embroidering and her sources. She doesn't tend to attribute her "facts" to any particular source, even when they come from such dubious places as Belle Boyd's romanticized versions of events. She also repeats stories from Sarah Emma Edmonds' memoir, though even Abbott can't quite swallow some of the ones that are provably false. Like Boyd, Edmonds sold her memoir and thus had reason to make it as sensational as possible. I don't really believe, for example, that she visited home in her male disguise and that her mother broke down in tears because "Frank" reminded her of her lost daughter and that she dramatically uncovered her true identity to the rejoicing of her mother and sister. Abbott swallows it hook, line, and sinker.

I dispute many of Abbott's facts, such as her inclusion of such tall tales as the soldier at Bull Run who was saved by a Bible in his pocket (his name was William Preston Magnum, and while there's no real evidence that the bullet was deflected by his Bible, it is an indisputable fact that he died from his wounds a week later and was buried at Manassas.)

The overwritten, purple-prosy style didn't do much for me either. If I wanted to read Victorian over-sensationalism, I'd go pick up the ladies' memoirs. To be clear, I do think that Abbott has sources for all of the stories she tells. I just don't believe the veracity of her sources.

I think these women were incredible and fascinating. I believe they deserve to have their true stories told, not the hyperbolic and romanticized versions that their lives inspired.

Cross-posted on BookLikes. ...more

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Sep 04, 2014 Lawyer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 19th-century, american-civil-war, non-fiction, signed-first-edition, 21st-century, history, 2014, karen-abbott, rose-greenhow, belle-boyd

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Karen Abbott's History of Four Women in the American Civil War

I am always on the women's side.-The Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut

Whoever said history has to be dull? Well, when Newsweek Magazine asked one thousand Americans the same U.S. Citizenship Test questions required for an immigrant to gain United States Citizenship, 38% must have found it pretty dull stuff. They failed. Seventy percent couldn't tell you what the Constitution was. That's a pretty bleak look on Americans' knowledge about their own country. Take The Quiz: What We Don't Know Newsweek Magazine, March 20, 2011.

So it is especially refreshing to find a book as skilfully written by an author as talented as Karen Abbott who brings a lesser known area of the American Civil War brilliantly alive. Any reader will find her story of four women and their involvement in the American Civil War anything but dull. With the skill of a novelist, Abbott weaves the lives of four exceptional and independent women into the complex history of the times. Nor does Abbott accomplish her task without the credentials to back up her work. Abbott writes the History column for Smithsonian.com and Disunion, the continuing series on the American Civil War for The New York Times.

Karen Abbott is the author of Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, and American Rose. Writing of strong, independent women, outside traditional roles, I consider her a feminist historian.

Oh. Don't be misled by the author's looks. Yes, she's a beautiful woman. Yes, she certainly turned this reader's head. But make no mistake about it. She has a mind as sharp as the finest Toledo steel. This is a history that is fully noted with a bibliography of sources that should satisfy any historian.

Writing of women's role in the American Civil War, Abbott said in her introductory note:

Some--privately or publicly, with shrewd caution or gleeful abandon --chafed at the limitations society set for them and determined to change the course of the war. In the pages that follow I tell the story of four such women: a rebellious teenager with a dangerous temper; a Canadian expat on the run from her past; a widow and a mother with nothing else to lose; and a wealthy society matron who endured death threats for years, and lost as much as she won. Each, in her own way, was a liar, a temptress, a soldier, and a spy, sometimes all at once."

If that doesn't grab your attention, I don't know what will.

Belle Boyd, the teenager with the dangerous temper.

Belle was seventeen when the war began. She lived with her parents in Martinsburg, Virginia, near the top of the Shenandoah Valley. She was impetuous. As one of the belles of Martinsburg described her, she was "man crazy." When Union troops entered Martinsburg and invaded her home, she killed a Yankee soldier whom she thought was too rough with her mother. Early in the war, there were no repercussions. The North wanted no repercussions among Southern civilians--yet. Belle's father was a member of Stonewall Jackson's Brigade, though he had not earned that nickname yet. During the battle of Falling Waters, Belle Boyd ran across the field of battle to warn Jackson of the number and deployment of Union troops. She was instrumental in Jackson's victory. Belle, ever the romantic, became enamored of Jackson. Surprise. Belle's feelings were not returned. Eventually Belle became a courier for the Confederacy. She was imprisoned in the Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. She was subsequently exiled to the South, paroled on the condition that she never return to Union soil. Ironically, Martinsburg was located in what became West Virginia. Belle Boyd would be exiled from home or in violation of her parole. It is left to the reader to discover what happened to Belle.

Rose Greenhow, the widow and mother with nothing left to lose.

To be continued...

...more

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Jan 11, 2021 Jay Schutt rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history-civil-war, owned

Reluctantly, I'm giving this book 2 stars for the author's/publisher's efforts, but the truth is, I did not finish/could not finish this book. Let me explain.
I had great expectations for this, but whoever put it together should be hung. The author's content was excellent; very informative and well-researched, but whoever laid out the format in which it was presented did a terrible job. The four Civil War era women whose life stories were told had their lives laid out together in timelines for ea ...more

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Jun 24, 2020 Joy D rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, north-america, history, american-south, war, strong-women, zck, biography, reviewed, espionage

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 prisoner ...more

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Jan 05, 2016 Paige rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own-audiobook, wrote-a-review, audiobook, non-fiction, own-ebook, the-best, strong-female-lead, 2016, civil-war, interesting-women

When I say I want to read about interesting women, this is EXACTLY what I mean. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy tells the story of:
•BELLE BOYD : self proclaimed "Cleopatra of the Succession" and a real piece of work. Before the age of 20, Belle had already killed a man, become a spy for the Confederacy, and been arrested (for being a spy). Always on the lookout for a husband, and pathologically obsessed with Stonewall Jackson, Belle Boyd flirted and canoodled her way through the Civil War. I found When I say I want to read about interesting women, this is EXACTLY what I mean. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy tells the story of:
•BELLE BOYD : self proclaimed "Cleopatra of the Succession" and a real piece of work. Before the age of 20, Belle had already killed a man, become a spy for the Confederacy, and been arrested (for being a spy). Always on the lookout for a husband, and pathologically obsessed with Stonewall Jackson, Belle Boyd flirted and canoodled her way through the Civil War. I found her epilogue in particular extremely interesting.
•EMMA EDMONDS : youngest child of a father who never loved her, Emma pulled a Mulan and joined up. Serving in the Union army as a war nurse, post master, and spy, Emma (who went by the name Frank Thompson) managed to conceal her gender for years, all the while surrounded by thousands of soldiers - never able to let her guard down. Emma's story was my personal favorite, and I highly recommend this book if only for Emma.
•ROSE O'NEALE GREENHOW : another piece of work. Rose, a widow with a young daughter (named Little Rose), became a Confederate spy whilst living in Union territory. Rose gathered an astonishing amount of information and passed it on in the early days of the war. Rose's whole thing was seduction. She had many an affair with Union soldiers, all for the cause. While I didn't agree with her politics or personal beliefs, I can respect that this woman was damn formidable.
• ELIZABETH VAN LEW: abolitionist and spy. Elizabeth lived in Richmond and spied for the Union. She could easily have lived a quiet life of comfort, but instead, she spent the majority of her sizable inheritance freeing slaves and helping smuggle Union POWs to safety. Elizabeth would go on to become close friends with Ulysses S Grant, but would continue to be ostracized by Richmond society following the war.

Each one of these women were compelling. Even though I didn't agree with all of their actions or beliefs, I respect every one of them for having the conviction to stand by their beliefs and the follow through to do something about it.

Update: Since reading this I've been seized by a wild desire to read and/or watch Gone With The Wind. ...more

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May 26, 2019 Sara rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle-purchase, non-fiction, civil-war

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is the non-fiction account of four women during the U. S. Civil War: Rose Greenhow, Elizabeth Van Lew, Emma Edmonds, and Belle Boyd (guess which side she was on). Two are Confederates and two Unionists, each spied for the cause they embraced and suffered for doing so.

The first half of the book was quite interesting and read more like fiction than non, with the narrative storylines. But, somewhere around the middle it got bogged down and began to drag. Never a good t ...more

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Sep 07, 2014 Cher rated it it was ok

Shelves: bookclub, nonfiction, lost-audiobooks

2 stars - Meh. Just ok.

The synopsis to this book promised a fascinating read and it does indeed start strong. Hearing the back story of the four main historical figures was very interesting. Unfortunately, once the introductions were over it became a dull, dry read, akin to reading history from a textbook.

The author mentions that all included dialogue is factual, based on her sources, and it seems that after doing so much research, she wanted to include every tedious event, quote and tidbit tha ...more

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Sep 30, 2014 LillyBooks rated it liked it

I *loved* Abbott's Sin in the Second City, so I put this book on hold the minute I heard it was going to be published. And I did enjoy it, especially as woman are so often overlooked in Civil War history (well, history in general) unless Scarlett O'Hara is present. But it felt a little fractured to me. It may have been the way it was told, jumping back and forth from story to story just when I getting immersed in one life. Partially, I thought it was too long, so all of Abbott's delightful snazz ...more

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Sep 06, 2015 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2015, history

"Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy" is a fantastic nonfiction narrative about four women and their daring undercover actions during the Civil War. In my own head, I typically don't think about women having a role in fighting the Civil War. We don't typically hear about them out on the battle field unless they are in a nursing role. This book sheds light on some of the bravery that women showed during the Civil War.

The Civil War definitely isn't my favorite historical event to learn about but with bo ...more

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Dec 13, 2015 Denise Mullins rated it did not like it

What a disappointment!I make it a point to completely read any book borrowed, but in this case, I admit defeat. The voice and tone of this book are totally inappropriate. Ms Abbott seems committed to using a brutally plain rhetoric that she then combines into a syrupy Blanche Dubois phrasing that really rankles. Moreover, many fascinating facts and details are clumsily lumped into a clothesline of events that becomes numbing and loses all emotional impact. This book seems more like a cut and pas ...more

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Jan 12, 2016 Susanna - Censored by GoodReads rated it it was amazing

I cannot help but visualize Belle Boyd as Erica Kane in crinolines. Her chapters inevitably had me laughing my head off.

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Dec 11, 2019 Dawn Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: already-own, kindle-read, audiobook-hoopla, history, biography, nonfiction-read, books-read-in-2019

W O W.

I have to say that nonfiction has always been my jam. I have read a lot of it and am always adding to my TBR list. I would love to take a year where I read nothing but nonfiction. I actually almost swooned when I typed that. Anyway, I digress. Because I read a lot of this genre, I have favorite time periods and people and places. And the Civil War is right at the top of that list [along with Abraham Lincoln, Grant, Harper's Ferry and John Brown etc etc]- not because war is my jam [it most W O W.

I have to say that nonfiction has always been my jam. I have read a lot of it and am always adding to my TBR list. I would love to take a year where I read nothing but nonfiction. I actually almost swooned when I typed that. Anyway, I digress. Because I read a lot of this genre, I have favorite time periods and people and places. And the Civil War is right at the top of that list [along with Abraham Lincoln, Grant, Harper's Ferry and John Brown etc etc]- not because war is my jam [it most certainly is not], but because the tenacity of the north and their refusal to give up in the face of insurmountable odds is just so inspiring to me. And in all the books that I have read, I have never, ever, read about these four amazing [even the southern spies] women. I was just blown away from their stories. I cannot even imagine doing what they did [especially Elizabeth Van Lew, who lived in Richmond {the heart of the confederacy} and was a staunch abolitionist and both hid union soldiers that escaped the southern prisons, she also had a detailed cypher system {with her most trusted maid situated right in Jefferson Davis house and who just happened to have a photographic memory} that gave important information to the north and Grant when they desperately needed it. She was shunned almost her whole life and her end is one of the saddest of the story], and the more I read, the more admiration I had for them [though the two southern women/spies were rather ridiculous and their actions and way of life and expectations drove me crazy at times]. I do not think that I could have done what any of them accomplished, but then again, one never knows what one can do when one is placed in that situation, so I hope that I would be able to rise to the occasion, should I be put there.

This is an excellent read and I highly recommend it. I will say a note about the narrator - I was able to reconcile with her voice [I have listened to A LOT worse and had she been worse, I would have had to quit the book, as I have in the past], but many might not be able to - I would suggest having a hard copy of this just in case. :-) ...more

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Feb 13, 2018 Lena rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, xmas2015

I was completely entertained; best time I’ve had reading a history book! Abbott gives that extra hundred pages of personality that all of my Erik Larson reads have lacked.

Frank Thompson/Emma Edmondson
A Union soldier, nurse, and spy. There were as many as 400 women, on both sides, posing and fighting as men.

Rose Greenhow
DC socialite ran a Confederate spy ring in the Union capital and later became the first American woman to represent her country abroad.

Elizabeth Van Lew
Ran a Union spy ring i ...more

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Feb 16, 2015 Mike rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, library, america, history, civil-war, military

Finished this 5 Star Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War in two marathon sessions. These women were just fascinating. Just great reading and very good history. I learned a lot about espionage in the Civil War. Emma's story was also excellent. Here is the definitive review by Mara and I can't improve on it:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Strongest recommendation! ...more

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Jul 16, 2015 BAM Endlessly Booked rated it really liked it

Shelves: notorious-women, library

Audiobook #214

I've read the paper version, but wanted to read it again. This book presents various profiles of women both North and South and how they survived during the Civil War. I find it really interesting, but honestly I find anything women do from a source of strength to be honored. ...more

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Jan 14, 2015 QNPoohBear rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, history

This book examines the lives of four courageous women during the American Civil War: two for the Union and two for the Confederacy. On the side of the Union there's Emma Edmonds, a Canadian woman who disguised herself as a man and fought, nursed and spied for the Union. There's also Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Union supporter living in Richmond who dared use her personal resources to help escaped prisoners and pass on information to General Grant. Honorable mention to her friend and former slav This book examines the lives of four courageous women during the American Civil War: two for the Union and two for the Confederacy. On the side of the Union there's Emma Edmonds, a Canadian woman who disguised herself as a man and fought, nursed and spied for the Union. There's also Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Union supporter living in Richmond who dared use her personal resources to help escaped prisoners and pass on information to General Grant. Honorable mention to her friend and former slave Mary Jane Bowser who worked undercover as a servant in the Confederate White House spying and passing information on the Union Underground Railroad of information. The Confederate women include Mrs. Rose O'Neale Greenhow, a beautiful widow living and spying in Washington, DC and Belle Boyd, a Virginia teenager enamored with Stonewall Jackson and the Southern cause who brashly and boldly flirted, flattered, spied and carried messages for the Confederacy.

The writing is lively and easy to understand for non-academics. Each chapter ends in suspense, urging the reader to keep reading. I got really caught up in the stories of the Confederate women, of whom I had heard but knew little and also Emma's story because I'm certain I read a YA fiction novel based on her story. It was thrilling enough without fiction. The one story I knew well was Elizabeth Van Lew's because of two fictional books I had read about her. Still I enjoyed reading the true story behind the fiction. The stories of these amazing women would make a great movie and no one would believe it! They were all so strong under enormous pressure. Their clandestine activities meant life or death and the fate of our nation was on line.

My biggest problem with this book is lack of footnotes. There are endnotes in the back but they're not numbered in the text. I know casual readers find footnotes annoying but I'm an academic and need footnotes. My other beef is the author likes to add little flourishes to her prose like "she left in a swirl of petticoats and a stomp of boots." or something like that. It's not good writing for a non-fiction book. Again I am sure that's what readers of popular history want but it's not the way I was taught. I was also taught to clarify - don't say mothers smuggled medicines in the heads of their daughters' dolls. How many women, where, when? This isn't even an accurate statement - there are two dolls in one museum believed to have been used to smuggle drugs during the Civil War. I also question some of the sources used in this book. Many of the information on Elizabeth Van Lew comes from family members decades after the fact.

If I wasn't an academic, I probably would have rated the book 5 stars. I think my grandmother, a history buff but not an academic, will enjoy this book. Civil War enthusiasts, women's history enthusiasts and spy history buffs will love this book. ...more

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Sep 10, 2014 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, i-heard-about-it-on-npr, thank-you-charleston-county-library, taught-me-something

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 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. ...more

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Aug 12, 2018 Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: civil-war-and-slavery, minority-and-women-writers, history-womens, washington-dc

This is a very readable book about four women during the American Civil War. Abbott choses two women from the Union and two from the Confedracy. Why these four is somewhat unclear - perhaps the least well known is Elizabeth van Lew or Emma Edmonds. Belle Boyd and Rose Greenhow are more well known.

And I think that is the what stops this book from being a five star. It is unclear why these four women - is it to bring little known stories to the fore, okay but Belle Boyd is not obscure (and if you ...more

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Oct 28, 2014 JenniferD rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, 2015-books

this was a terrific read. it's very clear abbott has done tremendous research in creating this book, and the biographies and history are presented well in a very engaging style.

over the past year, i have been hearing more about women serving in the civil war, whether they went incognito, disguising themselves as men, or functioned as supporters and spies - there may be a mini-movement in publishing to get these stories some attention. novels like I Shall Be Near to You and Neverhome would be gre ...more

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Sep 11, 2014 Erin Lindsay McCabe rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, purchased, civil-war

This book about 4 female Civil War spies was a must-read for me and was everything I'd hoped-- the final line of the epilogue leaving me with goosebumps (I'm not even kidding). I already knew about each of these women-- had even read parts of Rebel Rose's and all of Sarah Emma Edmonds' memoirs-- but I feel like I learned SO MUCH about them and the lengths that they and many others went through in pursuit of their ideals. Abbott gives a thorough, compelling, suspenseful account of each woman's li ...more

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Feb 20, 2016 Julianne (Outlandish Lit) rated it really liked it

As someone who's super scared of nonfiction and who hates reading about wars, I was nervous about this book. But when I heard that Karen Abbott was coming to town, I decided it was time to give this book a chance. Everybody who has read it loved it and the subject matter certainly sounded interesting. Badass women undercover?? Sign me up. I've just always had trouble with history, for whatever reason. Abbott makes Civil War history so interesting and accessible, without dumbing it down. All of t ...more

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Sep 01, 2014 drea rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club

This is the kind of NF I always love, yet struggle to find. Immersive and rich in the smaller historical details that may not ultimately affect the record but that brings its characters--and humanity--to life. (HOT TIP: If you are female attempting to pose as a male soldier, don't try to put pants on over your head. Immediate giveaway.)

I chose this for my book club's non-fiction round largely because of the Washington Post's odd review (below), but worried that the content itself might not lend ...more

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Aug 07, 2014 Sarah Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: harpercollins-advance-reader-copies

I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

In this work of non-fiction, Abbott tells the story of four women who served as spies during the Civil War. Belle Boyd was a teenager when work broke out, and a hotheaded one at that. Belle became a spy for the Confederacy, seducing men to get them to tell all. Emma Edmonds ran away from home to avoid a forced marriage. To survive, she dressed as a man and joined the Union army, where she was eventually recruited to serve as a I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

In this work of non-fiction, Abbott tells the story of four women who served as spies during the Civil War. Belle Boyd was a teenager when work broke out, and a hotheaded one at that. Belle became a spy for the Confederacy, seducing men to get them to tell all. Emma Edmonds ran away from home to avoid a forced marriage. To survive, she dressed as a man and joined the Union army, where she was eventually recruited to serve as an undercover spy. Rose O'Neale Greenhow was a widow who seduced Unionists to gain intelligence for the Confederacy. She and her young daughter were imprisoned for their crimes against the United States. And finally, Elizabeth Van Lew, a well-to-do Richmond spinster with Union loyalties, served as bath a Union spy and a safe house for Union soldiers escaping from the Southern prison.

This account was fascinating, but that's largely because Abbott has cherry picked four of the most fascinating stories from the Civil War to include. These women did not know one another and never met, yet Abbott has done an excellent job of weaving the four disparate stories together into one chronological tale. However, at times I had a difficult time to keep the four women separate in my mind, and to even remember for which side which woman was spying.

I couldn't help but have my favorites among the four women portrayed. Emma Edmonds fascinated me because she successfully pulled off serving as a female in a male army. Emma was one of around four hundred women who posed and fought as men during the Civil War. Perhaps even more impressive, once recruited to be a sspy Emma posed as a man posing as at times as a black man, and at times as a woman in order to infiltrate into the Southern army - which surely must have been confusing. Yet she was never caught and exposed as a woman. Many years later after the end of the war, she did reveal her gender to her fellow soldiers.

Additionally, I developed great respect for Elizabeth Van Lew, who was much hated in Richmond for her abolitionist beliefs, yet stood firm by them. Elizabeth managed to install her black servant Mary Jane in the Confederate president's house. Little did President Davis know that Mary Jane was "highly educated and gifted with an eidetic memory, capable of memorizing images in a glance, and recalling entire conversations word for word" (83). Additionally, Elizabeth successfully hid escaped Unionists in a secret room in her house, even when Southern army officers were staying with her. She was adept at aiding the Union army, and did so at considerable personal expense.

All four women in this book were willing to risk their life for their beliefs. All four sacrificed in numerous ways, including in bodily comfort, health, finances, and safety. Abbott has done an excellent job of locating four fascinating stories of women involved in the Civil War and compiling them in an easy to read and well researched narrative. ...more

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Sep 18, 2014 Jean rated it really liked it

Shelves: civil-war, non-fiction, history, audio-2014, biography, military-history

I enjoyed this book as it provided another aspect of the Civil War that one rarely hears about. Abbott provides an alternate view of the Civil War by featuring previously untold stories of the impact women and civilians had on the war effort. She brings these individuals fully to life with passion for their causes. The subjects of Karen Abbott’s engrossing book are four women who worked undercover in the Civil War. Belle Boyd and Rose O’Neal Greenhow worked for the confederacy and Elizabeth Van I enjoyed this book as it provided another aspect of the Civil War that one rarely hears about. Abbott provides an alternate view of the Civil War by featuring previously untold stories of the impact women and civilians had on the war effort. She brings these individuals fully to life with passion for their causes. The subjects of Karen Abbott’s engrossing book are four women who worked undercover in the Civil War. Belle Boyd and Rose O’Neal Greenhow worked for the confederacy and Elizabeth Van Lew and Emma Edmondson worked for the Union. Boyd was 17 years old in 1861, known as “The Secesh Cleopatra” and La Bella Rebelle” she flirted and spied never making pronounced efforts to conceal her espionage activities. Emma Edmondson born in 1841 from Flint Michigan, by way of Canada, worked as a nurse and also infiltrated enemy terrain to gather intelligence. She masqueraded herself in various disguises to do this. She even disguised herself as a man and fought with the 2nd Michigan Infantry. Greenhow ran a spy ring out of Washington D.C. she also learned cipher and Morse code. In 2012 I read “Wild Rose” by Ann Blackman which gave an in-depth history of Greenhow’s life. Elizabeth Van Lew was of Richmond society. Her father was a prominent businessman and slave owner. She was one of Richmond’s wealthiest citizens. She had been educated in Philadelphia by an abolitionist governess. She ran a spy ring, learned to cipher and Morse code. Van Lew’s most impressive agent was Mary Jane Bower, her black servant.

Abbott did meticulous research for the book and it is smoothly written and structured (chronologically) so as a certain amount of suspense is built in. The author’s research included letters, diaries and news accounts of the time. Abbott claims that as many as four hundred women both North and South were posing and fighting as men. The author also stated women were capable not only of significant acts of treason, but of executing them more deftly than men. Karen Abbott is a well known history author and a graduate of Villanova University.

If you enjoy history and true stories of adventure and courage you will find this is just the book for you. I read this as an audio book. If the “whispersync” was available I could have taken advantage of the photographs in the book. Karen White did a good job narrating the book.
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Feb 07, 2016 El rated it really liked it

Recommended to El by: The Roundtable

Shelves: american-civil-war, hear-me-roar-and-gender, library-borrow

About five years ago I read They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. It was a fine book, but on the dry end. What was exciting to me was the discussion of women in a position that was filled primarily by men, and the education most of us receive in schools about the American Civil War keep women out of the lectures pretty much entirely, except when talking about women in a feminine role during the war (nurses, teachers, prostitutes, mothers, sisters, wives, etc. etc.).

The realit About five years ago I read They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. It was a fine book, but on the dry end. What was exciting to me was the discussion of women in a position that was filled primarily by men, and the education most of us receive in schools about the American Civil War keep women out of the lectures pretty much entirely, except when talking about women in a feminine role during the war (nurses, teachers, prostitutes, mothers, sisters, wives, etc. etc.).

The reality is that women did play a sometimes very important role. In They Fought Like Demons we learned that some women went to great lengths to fight alongside men on the fields. In Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, Abbott focuses on four different women (two who supported the Confederates, two who supported the Union) and discussed their undercover roles in the war.

Each woman had a reason for their actions, and whether or not the reader agrees with every single one of them, the fact is that to these women (just like the men who signed up to fight) felt what they were doing was important for the greater good. It was impressive reading about what some of these women went through and what they further put themselves through to do their part, to prove their point, to do what they felt was right and good.

I was impressed by Abbott's attention to detail. She did a shitload of research for this book, and I honestly felt it could have been longer. Just flipping through the extensive notes at the end of the book made me realize just how much information Abbott went through to write this book.

I read this as part of a group, and someone mentioned they were concerned that there was a bit too much fictionalization happening. I hadn't thought about it at first until it was brought up, but after that I couldn't stop thinking about it. Abbott does mention in the introduction that this is attributed to what she was able to pull from primary sources and family stories, etc., and that was enough for me initially. But as someone else pointed out, it's hard to know for sure the veracity of the primary sources - I believe each of the women kept detailed journals about their experiences, but it's possible that some of them wrote an exaggerated version of their lives in order to make money later, or whatever.

So that's something to keep in mind.

However, the readability of the book, and the amount of information Abbott provided, was enough to keep me fascinated throughout. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the American Civil War, especially for those (like myself) who are especially intrigued by women's roles. ...more

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Sep 06, 2014 Stacy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-books, nonfiction, e-books, read-in-2016

This is the story of four different women and their contributions during the Civil War. This was a four star rating because, while the information and story was intriguing, it was confusing going back and forth between the stories and trying to figure out who's on what side.

All four women qualified as Liars and Spies, but my favorite was Emma, who wore a Union uniform and fought in battle in addition to delivering the mail. I liked that Emma and Elizabeth spent their time nursing soldiers back ...more

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Jan 30, 2016 Wendy rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir-biography, audiobooks, non-fiction, girls-rock-the-boys

I found this to be a highly readable and eye-opening account of the unsung role of four women "spies" in the Civil War. The narrative alternates between Emma and Elizabeth (both Union supporters), and Belle and Rose (Rebel sympathizers), and follows a chronological trajectory through the war and beyond. I recently read one of Karen Abbott's other books, Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul which was teeming with interesting historical characters, ...more

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Nov 18, 2014 Camie rated it liked it

I found this book somewhat confusing. I guess I should have brushed up on my American Civil War knowledge , before reading this nonfiction account of four women , two from each side who are the Liar, Temptress, Soldier, and Spy. Actually most of these ladies fit more than one description. For the Union side , we had Emma Edwards, my favorite of the bunch, who disguised as a man actually joined the troops, also Elizabeth Van Lew, who used her wealth , and the help of her former slave Mary Jane Bo ...more

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About Karen Abbott

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Karen Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War, and, most recently, The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder Th ...more

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