Gendering Secession

Melissa DeVelvis is Assistant Professor of History at Augusta University. Her work has been published in The Washington Post and the Journal of American Studies.

• Introduction; 1. 1859, the last fully antebellum year; 2. 'The gay season,' January–May 1860; 3. Escaping the sickly season, May–September 1860; 4. South Carolina takes action, October–December 1860; 5. The waiting game: December 1860–March 1861; 6. Catharsis and conclusion: Fort Sumter, First Bull Run, and a peek at postbellum.

''Women are like teabags,' Eleanor Roosevelt said. 'We don't know our true strength until we're in hot water.' In this immersive history, DeVelvis takes us into the emotional worlds of women who had for decades sown the wind and would now reap the whirlwind. As DeVelvis shows, the Civil War involved more than a massive mobilization of women but a massive politicization as well. An intimate portrait of women overtaken by the very events they had themselves helped set in motion, Gendering Secession captures the maelstrom of politics as it feels in real time.' Stephen Berry, University of Georgia