Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy

Four Women Undercover in the Civil War

De: Karen Abbott

Narrado por: Karen White

Karen Abbott, the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and “pioneer of sizzle history” (USA Today), tells the spellbinding true story of four women who risked everything to become spies during the Civil War.

Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies.

After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The beautiful widow, Rose O’Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy, and used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives.

Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies’ descendants, Abbott seamlessly weaves the adventures of these four heroines throughout the tumultuous years of the war. With a cast of real-life characters including Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, detective Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emperor Napoleon III, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy draws you into the war as these daring women lived it.

engaging

Love it and I'm usually into history stuff. great story's wonderful arranged. keep my attention from the beginning.

Find a different narrator, but make sure to read

Great story. I think it would make a fantastic popcorn flick. The narrator is indecisive weather to use a character's voice, or her information voice. This was bearable, but annoying. I would recommend this one as a read, not a audio book. I feel that I would have compleated it sooner if there was a different narrator.

Wonderful!!

A fascinating account of women during the civil war on both the Union and Confederate side.

Finally a book Civil War Heroines have long deserve

Wonderful and detailed book that doesn’t go dry with boring details or moves too fast that you can’t keep up. So great to finally find a good book on women’s history on Audible (a rare find with all the male dominated military and political history). If you love women’s history, this is the book for you.

Highly informative!

Well researched and compiled. It’s four stories interwoven. I found myself drifting somewhere else at times, but that is because this is not my favorite genre. It is very well written and performed.