What Answer?

by Anna E. Dickinson

The first and only novel by Anna E. Dickinson (1842-1932), the celebrated nineteenth-century orator, abolitionist, and advocate of racial equality and women's rights, attracted tremendous interest when it first appeared in the fall of 1868, and was enthusiastically endorsed by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Set in the midst of the Civil War, this controversial work traces the tragic history of an interracial marriage, which is doomed to disaster by the intolerance of a Northern society that refuses to accept racial equality. Also lending the story interest are Dickinson's impassioned descriptions of two famous historical incidents--the terrible New York City Draft Riots of July 1863 and the storming of Fort Wagner by the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, the famed Black infantry regiment. Even more important is the glimpse she provides into the conflicted attitudes of average White Northern citizens toward Blacks after the war. The themes of racial tnesion and justice give WHAT ANSWER? enduring value.

This edition of a unique work, long out of print, includes an informative introduction by J. Matthew Gallman, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College.

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932).

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was introduced to me in a graduate course, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a shame that this novel is so relatively unknown because it does have an interesting message, and provides a unique perspective on the civil war. Dickinson writes about the hardships and racisms present in the North at the time, which is something that is never really mentioned in our history books. It gives more incite on a war that was more complicated than just North vs. South.

[Sparquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing was hard to follow at times, more so than other novels of this era but the message was strong. It was powerful to read knowing that the author lived at the time the story takes place.