Civil War Books - Women & Gender

"Well behaved women seldom make history" Laura Thatcher Ulrich


NOTE:  This bibliography contains books on women's history and female gender from the American Revolution through Reconstruction as well as a few on male and female gender combined.  Books on the Colonial Era (Ulrich, Norton, Hughes, Brown) will be added at a later time.  Books on enslaved women can be found in the Slavery books, though some books here have info on them.  Books specifically on male gender can be found elsewhere on this blog at a later time.

Check resellers for "Like New" and "Very Good" used books.  You can find some great deals on many.  If I put a price by a book, the price will included the $3.99 shipping charge.  Books are all at least 250 pages unless specified.  X = top choice even if expensive.


Male and Female Gender Studies of both the North and South

Silber, Nina.  Gender and Sectional Conflict  (2009)  144 pages.

Clinton, Catherine and Nina Silber (eds)  Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War   (1992)  (Essay Collection)  An early classic, $6. X

Clinton, Catherine and Nina Silber (eds)  Battle Scars: Gender and Sexuality in the American Civil War  (2006)  (Essay Collection) 232 pages.  Wait for a copy under $8.



Northern Women Gender Studies

Colt, Nancy.  The Bonds of Womanhood: "Woman's Sphere" in New England, 1780-1835  (1977, 1997)  an early classic, $10. X

Lyons, Claire.  Sex among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender and Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730-1830  (2009)  Good book, but $20.

Kerber, Linda.  Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (1997)  $11. X

Dublin, Thomas.  Women at Work: The Transformation of Work and Community in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1826-1860  (1981).  $11.  Interesting but has a lot of statistics.  May be dry reading for some)

Stansell, Christine. City of Women: Sex and Class in New York, 1789-1860  (1987)  A Personal favorite,  $11. X

Dorsey, Bruce.  Reforming Men and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City   (2006)  320 pages.  Expensive and not for beginners.

Jeffrey, Julie Roy.  The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Antislavery Movement   (1998) Wait until you can find a copy for under $10.

Silber, Nina.  Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War.  (2009)  Very good, $15.  X



Southern Women Gender Studies

Faust, Drew Gilpin.  Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996)  A great book, $15.  X

Edwards, Laura.  Scarlett Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Southern Women in the Civil War Era (2000)  Very good! $20. X

Edwards, Laura. The People and Their Peace: Legal Culture and the Transformation of Inequality in the Post-Revolutionary South
(2009)  Great, but $30.  X

 McCurry, Stephanie. Masters of Small Worlds: Yeoman Households, Gender Relations, and the Political Culture of the Antebellum South Carolina Low Country  (1997)  Excellent, $20. X

McCurry, Stephanie  Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South (2012) Excellent, $21. X

Bercaw, Nancy.  Gendered Freedoms: Race, Rights, and the Politics of Household in the Delta, 1861-1875 (2003) Very good but $30.

Rable, George.  Civil Wars: Women and the Crisis of Southern Nationalism (1991)  Buy it for under $12 or pass for now. 

Lebsock, Suzanne.  The Free Women of Petersburg: Status and Culture in a Southern Town, 1784-1860  (1985)  $6.

Whites, LeeAnn & Alecia Long (eds.).  Occupied Women: Gender, Military Occupation, and the American Civil War (2012)
(Essay Collection) Very good, but wait on one under $12.