Joan E. Cashin is Associate Professor of History, Ohio State University.
"First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis's Civil War" is that
rare combination of a scholarly masterpiece which is also enjoyable
to read. You will come away from it glad that you took the time to
get to know this woman and her life.--Laurie Chambliss "Civil War
Interactive "
Cashin has done justice to this compelling figure. A respected and
prolific scholar of southern women's history, Cashin spent over
fourteen years researching Varina Davis, painstakingly examining
print sources and combing the many archives that hold relevant
manuscript material. This extraordinary effort and Cashin's skill
as a historian and writer are apparent on every page of this
thorough, objective, and engaging book. Cashin has been careful not
to impose twenty-first-century feminist values on Varina Davis,
instead establishing the historical context of social, political,
and gender relations and letting the documentary evidence fill in
the details of Davis's life. The result is a subtle examination of
an actual person, warts and all.--Elizabeth Bramm Dunn"North
Carolina Historical Review" (01/01/2007)
Cashin presents an engaging look at the Confederacy's first lady,
who surprisingly did not believe in the Southern cause.--B. A.
Wineman"Choice" (05/01/2007)
In prose as vivid and daring as that found in Varina's letters,
Joan Cashin...has written a biography that reveals the many facets
of Varina, which will bring her the attention she deserves, and
which Varina herself would have probably admired...Since Cashin
candidly reveals the many humiliations that Varina endured during
the course of her marriage, "First Lady of the Confederacy" is
sometimes painful to read. How, one wonders, can such a lively and
curious woman be so loyal to this rigid, often arrogant man? But if
one accepts Varina's rules one can only admire her good
grace...Although I found myself disappointed by Varina, I was
fascinated by each twist in her story, by the wonderful vignettes
of people as disparate as Oscar Wilde and Judah Benjamin, and by
the portrait of those tumultuous years.--Roberta Silman "Boston
Globe "
It would be impossible to write about Varina Davis, wife of
Jefferson Davis, without writing about him. These two characters
make Joan E. Cashin's "First Lady of the Confederacy" interesting
and educational reading...Varina Davis is portrayed as a troubled
woman reared on the precept that men and women have different
natures, with men seeing women as chattel, only a fraction higher
than slaves, with many duties and few rights. On one hand, she
supported her husband, but she defied a woman's role by thinking
for herself. After her husband died, she went to New York to become
a journalist.--Melba Lovelace "Oklahoman "
Joan Cashin has dedicated years of research and writing to produce
what will surely become the definitive work on this remarkable and
misunderstood woman. Meticulous research in contemporary
newspapers, government documents and correspondence places Varina
Davis within the political and social framework of her world. The
contents of nearly 600 letters reveal Davis' private thoughts on
the hot-button issues of her time: women's rights, slavery and
secession. Her belief that women should have at least equal rights
within the bonds of marriage set her apart from her husband on
numerous occasions...Varina Davis occupies a unique position in
American history, and Cashin's masterful work leaves us imagining
what this woman of talent and tenacity might have achieved in a
later time.--Mary Hatcher"Charleston Post and Courier"
(10/29/2006)
Over the past three decades a great deal has been written about
Southern women in the Civil War period, and it has left little
doubt that some of them were far more restless and rebellious than
their husbands and fathers would have preferred. But the case of
Varina Davis takes on special meaning because she was the most
prominent Southern woman of her time...Cashin's book leaves no
doubt that she was in fact a considerably more interesting person
than her husband, and a better one as well.--Jonathan
Yardley"Washington Post" (09/03/2006)
The history of complex Southern feelings about the subjugated
blacks in their midst is as long as the history of slavery and
segregation. New evidence of this is brought to light by Joan
Cashin in "First Lady of the Confederacy". Her title is somewhat
misleading, as this biography of Jefferson Davis's wife encompasses
far more than the four years of the war, but it does underscore the
point that Varina Howell Davis was involved in internal as well as
external struggles. She doesn't seem to have questioned slavery
more than occasionally and half-heartedly, but she believed that
secession was foolish and the war unwinnable for the Confederacy.
She supported her husband unflinchingly, as was expected of wives
in that time, but she disagreed with him frequently and apparently
wasn't afraid to tell him so.--Jonathan Yardley"Washington Post
Book World" (12/03/2006)
Though Davis's life reads like a tragic novel, Cashin has taken
care not to romanticize her subject...Cashin has meticulously
researched her subject's long life, including her move to New York
after Jefferson Davis's death in 1889 and her subsequent career as
a writer.--Tessa L. H. Minchew"Library Journal" (07/01/2006)
Cashin has written a smashing study--the first scholarly biography
of Varina Howell Davis (1826-1906), wife of Confederate president
Jefferson Davis. Cashin follows Davis from her Mississippi
childhood through her marriage, her years in Washington (when her
husband served in the Senate), through the Civil War, concluding
with her widowhood, during which Varina lived in New York City and
supported herself by writing for newspapers. Davis had a deep
commitment to family (and in later years an almost co-dependent
attachment to her daughter) and intellectual sophistication. She
was a passionate reader and a scintillating conversationalist. The
letters quoted here sparkle with wit. Cashin also uncovers Davis's
ambivalence about the Confederacy; a "wavering Confederate
patriot," she believed the South was doomed from the start. Davis
kept up correspondence with Northern friends and relatives
throughout the Civil War, an act that could have landed her in
jail. Cashin is a strong, clear writer and situates her complex
subject in larger academic debates, for example, about gender in
the 19th century, without getting bogged down in academese. All in
all, this is a terrifically winning portrait of a fascinating
woman. (starred review)
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