Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War

Hard-to-put-down bio about 4 women, lots of petticoats, some flags and a war

One of my favorite semi-recently read biographies is a grouping of stories about female spies in the Civil War.  “Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: four women undercover in the Civil War” is by author Karen Abbott.  The Los Angeles Times calls it a “gripping page turner”, and I have to say, I’m on board with that.  It’s not often I can say that I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning reading a biography. I mean it happens (“Devil in the White City”) but not all that often. (and technically DITWC is shelved in True Crime at CADL)
I loved several things about this book:
1.    The author approaches the stories of these women with rare journalistic neutrality.  Two of her spies are Union, and two are Confederate.  She makes no attempt to impose her personal ideals on the reader.  Instead, Abbott presents cases for both sides through the eyes of these strong, brave, and intelligent soldiers.   
2.    These stories are FASCINATING!  
3.    The book caused me to do further research, and I LOVE deep diving!  

I borrowed this book from CADL (although I might just buckle down and buy it) but if you can’t get your hands on a copy immediately, you could also consider the following while you wait in the queue:   the excellent graphic novel “Nurse, soldier, spy…the story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War hero” by Marissa Moss, or the eBooks by Hallie Murray – “The role of female Union spies in the Civil War” and “The role of female Confederate spies in the Civil War”.