In this unique volume, historians Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber bring together a wide spectrum of critical viewpoints to show how gender became a prism through which the political tensions of antebellum America were filtered and focused. Many fascinating subjects are explored, such as the new "manly" responsibilities both black and white men had thrust upon them as soldiers; the effect of the war on Southern women's daily actions on the homefront; the essential part Northern women played as nurses and spies; the war's impact on marriage and divorce; women's roles in the guerilla fighting; even the wartime dialogue on interracial sex.