Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover In The Civil War (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is the story of 4 female civil war assassins, two working for the union, two for the confederacy. My civil war history is rusty at best, and this book does a good job of putting these women into context of how they were unique for their time, and what the consequences of their actions were in the wider picture of the war. The book also brings up a lot about the use of slaves or former slaves in addition to women, and really relates how easy it was to overlook both of these groups in this era and how many people used that to their advantage.The most interesting part of this book is looking at the motivations of the women. I think I went in expecting this to be people fighting for their country and doing what is right, but a lot of the motivations went beyond that into looking for fame, purpose, recognition, and opportunities. I found Emma to be by far the most engaging figure in the book, but struggled quite a bit with the sections with Belle. The book takes a little while to get oriented into, but it picks up and effectively keeps your interest throughout. If you like your non-fiction on the lighter and more storytelling style, and are interested in espionage, the civil war, and women's rights, it's an entertaining read. As someone who is no a civil war scholar, this was a little bit too much information to ingest. The book follows the lives of four women and their involvement in the Civil War. Because the story line jumps from woman to woman, it was a little bit difficult to swallow. Also, it was rather long. I would not recommend this to someone unless he or she was a true 19th century American history buff. I was underwhelmed.-k
What do You think about Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover In The Civil War (2014)?
Though the title is a cheap ripe off the content was interesting and revealing.
—TimClow
This book was a whole new perspective on the civil war for me. Worth reading.
—janne
