Description: These letters chronicle the wartime courtship of a Confederate soldier and the woman he loved--a sister-in-law of Abraham Lincoln. Letters were their sole lifeline to each other and their sole means of sharing their hopes and fears for a relationship (and a Confederacy) they had rashly embraced in the heady, early days of secession.
Brief description: STEPHEN BERRY is professor of history at the University of Georgia. His books include Weirding the War: Stories from the Civil War's Ragged Edges (Georgia); House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War; All That Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South; and Princes of Cotton: Four Diaries of Young Men in the South, 1848-1860 (Georgia). He lives and writes in Athens, Georgia.
Review Quotes: Practical Strangers is a remarkable compilation of letters from 1861 and 1862 that present a nearly complete record of Elodie Todd--the sister-in-law of Abraham Lincoln--and Nathaniel Dawson's courtship via mail, as well as of their commitment to the confederacy during the Civil War. . . . This volume is edited to focus on the courtship, with the entire correspondence available online. What do the rest of the letters reveal of the couple? Wanting to know more is a testament to the power of these documents--Dawson and Todd's burgeoning romance ignites curiosity.--Meredith Grahl Counts "ForeWord Reviews"