“So this is the little lady who made this big war,” was Abraham Lincoln’s famous comment upon first meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Though war is often considered “man’s business,” women have had significant impact on pro- and anti-war efforts through their writing. Caroline Levander, associate professor of English at Rice University and author of books and essays on American literature, will focus on how women’s writings contribute to feelings about war, how women writers depict war and its aftermath, and how women’s novels help readers heal the personal loss and national pain that war creates.

For those wishing to read the books, Civil War Women is a short story collection in paperback published by Simon & Schuster. The other three books may be read in any edition.