Capital Dames, Cokie Roberts
Capital Dames, Cokie Roberts
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Capital Dames
The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868

Author: Cokie Roberts

Narrator: Cokie Roberts

Unabridged: 14 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 04/14/2015


Synopsis

In this engrossing and informative companion to her New York Times bestsellers Founding Mothers and Ladies of Liberty, Cokie Roberts marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War by offering a riveting look at Washington, D.C. and the experiences, influence, and contributions of its women during this momentous period of American history.With the outbreak of the Civil War, the small, social Southern town of Washington, D.C. found itself caught between warring sides in a four-year battle that would determine the future of the United States.After the declaration of secession, many fascinating Southern women left the city, leaving their friends—such as Adele Cutts Douglas and Elizabeth Blair Lee—to grapple with questions of safety and sanitation as the capital was transformed into an immense Union army camp and later a hospital. With their husbands, brothers, and fathers marching off to war, either on the battlefield or in the halls of Congress, the women of Washington joined the cause as well. And more women went to the Capital City to enlist as nurses, supply organizers, relief workers, and journalists. Many risked their lives making munitions in a highly flammable arsenal, toiled at the Treasury Department printing greenbacks to finance the war, and plied their needlework skills at The Navy Yard—once the sole province of men—to sew canvas gunpowder bags for the troops.Cokie Roberts chronicles these women's increasing independence, their political empowerment, their indispensable role in keeping the Union unified through the war, and in helping heal it once the fighting was done. She concludes that the war not only changed Washington, it also forever changed the place of women.Sifting through newspaper articles, government records, and private letters and diaries—many never before published—Roberts brings the war-torn capital into focus through the lives of its formidable women.

About Cokie Roberts

Cokie Roberts was a political commentator for ABC News and NPR. She won countless awards and in 2008 was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress. She was the author of the New York Times bestsellers We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters, Founding Mothers, Ladies of Liberty, and, with her husband, the journalist Steven V. Roberts, From This Day Forward and Our Haggadah.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Caroline on June 30, 2015

So often women are given short shrift in histories of the American Civil War. War, after all, even today, is a man's world. And with so much attention paid to the men of the political and military spheres, women don't tend to get much of a look-in. So it's refreshing to see an entire book devoted to......more

Goodreads review by Sarah Beth on April 01, 2015

I received an uncorrected proof copy from HarperCollins. In Capital Dames, Cokie Roberts has provided an analysis of what it was like to be living in Washington, D.C. during the Civil War from the ladies' perspectives. This bird's eye perspective of a multitude of women's voice allows the author to......more

Goodreads review by Jean on May 07, 2015

Roberts says she started writing the book in 2011 with the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. She says she started to wonder what impact the Civil War had on women’s lives. Roberts did extensive research including diaries, newspapers, government records and private correspondence......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on July 16, 2015

An interesting take on Civil War history, and one that I was surprised I hadn't really seen before. Most Civil War narratives centered around women's stories tend to rehash the archetypes of the Belle, the Nurse, the Abolitionist. This book includes women who fit those roles, of course, but also sho......more

Goodreads review by Judie on November 11, 2016

I'll be the first to admit this review is much too long. (You should see how much I cut!) But CAPITOL DAMES offers so much interesting material that I wanted to provide a really tempting preview as an appetizer. There are countless books about the Civil War era. Most of them are very good and inter......more