• Capital Dames

  • The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868
  • By: Cokie Roberts
  • Narrated by: Cokie Roberts
  • Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (184 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Capital Dames  By  cover art

Capital Dames

By: Cokie Roberts
Narrated by: Cokie Roberts
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $28.79

Buy for $28.79

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

In this engrossing and informative companion to her New York Times best sellers Founding Mothers and Ladies of Liberty, Cokie Roberts marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War by offering a riveting look at Washington, DC, and the experiences, influence, and contributions of its women during this momentous period of American history.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, the small, social, Southern town of Washington, DC, found itself caught between warring sides in a four-year battle that would determine the future of the United States.

After the declaration of secession, many fascinating Southern women left the city, leaving their friends - such as Adele Cutts Douglas and Elizabeth Blair Lee - to grapple with questions of safety and sanitation as the capital was transformed into an immense Union army camp and later a hospital. With their husbands, brothers, and fathers marching off to war, either on the battlefield or in the halls of Congress, the women of Washington joined the cause as well. And more women went to the Capital City to enlist as nurses, supply organizers, relief workers, and journalists. Many risked their lives making munitions in a highly flammable arsenal; toiled at the Treasury Department, printing greenbacks to finance the war; and plied their needlework skills at the Navy Yard - once the sole province of men - to sew canvas gunpowder bags for the troops.

Cokie Roberts chronicles these women's increasing independence, their political empowerment, and their indispensable role in keeping the Union unified through the war and in helping heal it once the fighting was done. She concludes that the war not only changed Washington, but it also forever changed the place of women.

Sifting through newspaper articles, government records, and private letters and diaries - many never before published - Roberts brings the war-torn capital into focus through the lives of its formidable women.

©2015 Cokie Roberts (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Capital Dames

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    112
  • 4 Stars
    43
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    97
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    99
  • 4 Stars
    34
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening

Roberts says she started writing the book in 2011 with the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. She says she started to wonder what impact the Civil War had on women’s lives.

Roberts did extensive research including diaries, newspapers, government records and private correspondence. She narrowed her research to Washington D.C. and the women of the city.

As in other wars women took on new roles such as becoming nurses, forming social service and relief agencies. Some wrote propaganda, some even became spies. Women took on positions once held by men and black women founded societies to help the displaced slaves. The Civil War expanded the role of women in politics, health care, education and social services.

Roberts writes about the unknown and the known women such as Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress Elizabeth Kockley, abolitionist Josephine Griffing, Clara Barton, Sara Agnes Pryor and on the confederate side Varnia Davis wife of Jefferson Davis.

Cokie Roberts wrote a delightful tale that provided so much information, she also narrated the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful having Cokie Roberts reading her book

How can you go wrong with such a smart, interesting compilation of real life stories of women in Washington during the civil war. I read her other book about the women during the Revolutionary War so having this one read by the author was a extra special treat. I liked everything about it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I couldn't love this more!

This is one of my very favorite Audible Books! Maybe these factors made it "just the thing" for me: I lived and worked in Washington DC for many years, always enjoying and absorbing the history of the famous places while always recognizing that the social underpinnings were the real story. And now, retired in West Virginia, I'm close enough to make regular visits to Antietam, New Market, Gettysburg, Bull Run, and all the memorable and tragic battle sites. So! This book fills in the blanks, connects the dots, and gives me the picture from the viewpoint of the splendid, diverse, and courageous women of the Civil War.

I am a long time fan of Cokie Roberts as she gives us the inside scoop on her NPR guest spots. Who would be in a better place to tease out the important events...social and otherwise...of this fascinating era? After all, she is a Capitol Dame herself. I love her voice and her way of pausing at just the right places. No one could deliver the inside story as well as Cokie.
Overall...What a splendid experience! I highly recommend it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful!

Have always enjoyed and learned so much from Cokie Roberts. Miss her wise words on issues facing us these days.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Cookie Robert's is great but...

The book is an overview of the perspectives of politician's wives pre, during, and post Civil War. Not nearly as compelling or interesting as I thought it would be.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Capital Dames worth your time to download and listen.

Cokie Roberts reads well and backs up her stories with bona fide research. The stories of these highly influential women teaches a valuable lesson for all women, young and old. Yes you can make a difference. Whether that difference is good or bad is largely up to you and your choices. Ladies of Liberty is also worthy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hard to stop listening.

It was wonderful to hear Cokies’s voice fill our minds with the details of the past. The women of the time she tells us of are true inspiration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Better than fiction

Well researched, well cited. Interesting stories of known and unknown women who made a difference

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really, really enjoyed it.... I just wish there was more!

As I said above, being a southerner, and steeped in the background around me as I grew up in Louisiana, I loved every minute of these stories. I remember going to visit some of the old plantation houses when air was growing up, and how excited and happy we all were when it became fashionable to completely restore them, and put them to work again.
These stories brought back some of the tales I heard as a young girl, and I was standing in parlors once again, watching people with famous names walk by. It was enthralling!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful history of women of the time.

I learned so much of the back story of the Civil War. I love history and this was a different prospective of life during those years. The research was meticulous, but not boring. I enjoyed this book very much.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!