Description:
Race and Gender at War offers a groundbreaking examination of how race and gender shaped experiences and narratives during the American Civil War. Through vivid analysis of soldiers, civilians, and cultural memory, this book reveals the complex intersections of identity on and off the battlefield--where notions of masculinity, femininity, and racial hierarchy influenced enlistment, combat roles, and postwar remembrance. Drawing on letters, diaries, and official records, this work challenges traditional war histories by foregrounding voices often marginalized, providing a nuanced understanding of how social constructs defined loyalty, honor, and survival in America's most transformative conflict.
Review Quotes:
"Each essay in this collection contributes something distinctive, from method--legal history, quantitative history, synopsis, local/biographical--to argument and conclusions." --Samuel J. Watson, author of Peacekeepers and Conquerors: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1821--1846
"Path-breaking military historians Lesley Gordon and Andrew Huebner offer a buffet of approaches, questions, and topics in support of a fundamental claim: 'The United States military has long carried race and gender to war.' This smart and compelling collection makes that case, and in so doing demonstrates the vitality of 'war and society' military history and its centrality to the broader field. A must-read for military history and beyond." -- Beth Bailey, coeditor of Managing Sex in the U.S. Military: Gender, Identity, and Behavior
"This exciting and important collection sheds new light on how race and gender have shaped U.S. military history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The essays offer fresh insights into the military service of Native Americans, African Americans, women, and LGBTQ troops in different conflicts. The surprising connections across the chapters will be of interest to scholars of war and society." --Matthew F. Delmont is author of Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad