Finished reading Escott’s North Carolinians in the Era of Civil War and Reconstruction. I’ve been blogging about the different essays as I’ve read as I have went along. I finished the last three essays over past few days and wanted to send along a few more comments.
I’m not sure why Laura F. Edward’s Essay, entitled “Reconstruction and North Carolina Women’s Tangled History” was included in the collection. It is an interesting essay, but save for the last three or three and half pages, the whole essay only deals with women and their legal rights in Antebellum times. I do understand having to set the stage, but for twenty-one pages?
I thought the next essay, “Marriage Divorce, and Gender in the 1868 Constitutional Convention in 1868” by Karin Zipf was really good. Maybe Edward’s essay helps set Zipf’s essay in context.
The two essays that deal with Vance, “The Immortal Vance: The Political Commemoration of North Carolina’s War Governor” by Stephen Nash and “To Do Justice to North Carolina: The War’s End according to Cornelia Spencer, Zebulon B. Vance, and David L. Swain” by John C. Inscoe were really good.
So, would I recommend this book to someone? Depends on your interest level in the North Carolina and the War.
So what is next? I’m three chapters into D. H. Hill Jr.’s History of North Carolina and the War.
1 comment:
Hey Michael,
I enjoyed this book as well. Particularly enjoyed the Inscoe essay and the way he took a new look at an important woman. Additionally, I knew quite a few of the contributors and that is always an added bonus - reading a story by someone you know.
Regards,
Chris
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