The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

As the Civil War draws to a close, Landry and Prentiss, brothers born into slavery, take refuge on the homestead of George and Isabelle Walker as they try and make their way north, seeking their mother, who had been sold years ago. When George stumbles across the boys, he hires them to help him install a crop of peanuts, hoping the work will numb the grief of the loss of his only child to the war. 

 

The forbidden romance of two Confederate soldiers also plays out in the town of Old Ox. The men meet in the woods and, when their secret is discovered, chaos ensues and culminates in murder. The repercussions are greater—for both of them—than either could have ever guessed.

 

In the aftermath of this grief and chaos, Isabelle is thrust to the forefront as the unlikely leader, whose strength results in a vision set to heal both the land and its citizens.

368 pages.

A Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

Aaaaaaaand there goes my ship....
meh
560 Pages

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

I love that the chapter titles are like chapter titles of books that would have been published during the Civil War.
Aaaand I'm going to strangle all of these racists. 
Historical fiction + fighting zombies. Sign me up.
......I am concerned for a very specific character.
480 Pages

The Cause Lost: Myths and Realities of the Confederacy by William C. David

In a series of essays (some previously published) dealing with various aspects of the Civil War, Davis (The American Frontier, Smithmark, 1995) provides new insights into some of the myths and realities of the war. The essays on Jefferson Davis look at his leadership and his relations with his generals, especially Robert E. Lee, while those on Stonewall Jackson and Breckenridge correct a lot of the myths that have been written since the end of the war. The author also examines the Confederate armies in the West, blaming their losses on poor leadership and lack of support from the Confederate government, and illustrates why slavery was the single issue of the war though 90 percent of the participants from the South did not own slaves. Davis helps clear away misconceptions about the Civil War and gives the reader a clearer insight into problems that affected the South.

278 pages

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Details the lives of the March sisters as they navigate the passage from adolescence to womanhood.

Parts 1 and 2. 777 pages.

Missouri's Mad Doctor McDowell: Confederates, Cadavers and Macabre Medicine

Missouri's Mad Doctor McDowell: Confederates, Cadavers and Macabre Medicine
by Victoria Cosnor
Pages: 144
Rating: 4 out of 5

Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell of St. Louis was known as many things: a brilliant surgeon and teacher, a grave robber and and husband and father. Some people say he was an amazing man while others wanted to kill him. His experiments and anatomy classes led to advances in medical science but at what cost? Was he really a mad scientist and did he really experiment on his family's corpses? You'll have to read this book to find out.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, having lost all he owned during the Civil War, travels the country, renting halls and reading newspapers to the townspeople. In one town, he is convinced to deliver a 10-year-old girl, taken captive by the Kiowa when she was six, back to her relatives in South Texas. As they make the 400 mile trip by horseback and wagon the Captain tries to civilize Johanna, and teach her English. The two of them form a bond as they travel through the rough terrain, fighting off raiders and thieves.





229 pages

Liar, Temptress, Soldier Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

During the U. S. Civil War, women played much more of a role than history would lead us to believe. Here, Karen Abbott writes of four women, 2 Confederate and 2 Union, who did their part for their respective sides.

Belle Boyd was a southern belle who became a courier and spy, seducing men on both sides along the way.  Emma Edmonds was a young Canadian woman who posed a man, joining the Union army. Rose Greenhow was a well-connected Washington, D. C. socialite who had affairs with influential Northern Politicians to gather intelligence for the South. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist with Northern roots,  orchestrated an espionage ring right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives.

Using primary source materials, the author alternates chapters between the lives of these fascinating women.

533 pages

Freeman by Leonard Pitts

Have you ever wondered exactly how average people responded to emancipation when the American Civil War ended?  Slavery was an inherently American institution, which was so firmly interwoven within the economy, the society, the psychology as well as religious, philosophical, and ethical mores of the country, and was suddenly it was over.  It must have been overwhelming in many ways! Indeed, scholars have and can continue to spend their entire careers examining the period, its impact then, and the continued effect upon this country.
It is well known that many of the formerly enslaved hit the road  -- everywhere in land, all manner of black folks set out trying to find lost mothers, fathers, children, siblings -- lost lives.  It is also well known that this is the period wherein many schools sprang up throughout the South to educate the formerly enslaved, which delighted the knowledge starved blacks and inflamed those who felt this upset the natural order of things. Leonard Pitts, Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald, has taken these two elements and fashioned a remarkably powerful piece of historical fiction that depicts just how it must have been for some.
Sam Freeman sets out from Philadelphia, where he has been working in a library since his discharge from the Union army, and begins walking to Mississippi to find his wife, Tilda.  He has not seen her in 15 years, and like most on similar searches, he has no idea if she is alive or dead, if she has taken another husband, been sold elsewhere.  He knows only that he loves her and must be with her, if it is at all possible.
Prudence Cafferty Kent, a white widow from Boston, along with her black foster sister Bonnie, head to Buford, Mississippi to open a school.  These are the main characters, and their story -- their quest for redemption, will capture you and keep you enthralled until the novel concludes.  Hopefully, it will keep its readers thinking about the damage of America's peculiar institution long after completion.   

432 pages, 15 hours, 46 minutes

The Secrets of Mary Bowser: A Novel by Lois Leveen

This novel is based on the remarkable true story of Mary Bowser, a young woman who was enslaved in antebellum Richmond, Virginia by the wealthy Van Lew family.  Bet Van Lew, the headstrong daughter of the family had strong abolitionist sentiments, which led her to emancipate Mary and her mother but the law forbade emancipated slaves to live within the state.  Mary traveled to Philadelphia to be educated, and her mother, wishing to remain with her still enslaved "husband" pretended to still be in bondage.  During the period of her life in Philadelphia, her mother passed away, which led Mary to feel a higher calling than that of the bourgeois free blacks she saw around her in Philadelphia.  With the aid of friends who worked with the Underground Railroad, Mary returned to Richmond to pose as an enslaved house girl in order to spy in the home of none other than Confederate States president, Jefferson Davis.  A memorable story of a brave woman history had forgotten.   496 pages