To all of you, I say "Fie!" For I have not only read Jack C. Young's pick for the "Little Bit of Fun" contest, Dr. Thomas P. Lowry's The Stories Soldiers Wouldn't Tell: Sex in the Civil War, I am also about to review it!
Uh, right now!
The content of Stories Soliders Wouldn't Tell... would seem to be a no-brainer based on the title, but in fact it's a lot less salacious and controversial than the name implies. It's simply a record of the sexual conduct during the Civil War. Which in and of itself is fascinating: one of the key points Lowry makes in his (very roundabout and more than a little old fashioned way) is that it's indeed how conspicuous the absence of sex of any kind is missing from all the historical, biographical, and military accounts of one of if not the most impactful event in the modern history of the United States. Unfortunately, Lowry doesn't go into too much detail as to the reasons for the omissions, choosing to chalk it up to the venerated and noble status imparted to the major players. Which may I suspect play a part, although personally I was always of the impression that sex and debauchery during wartime didn't spring fully formed from the head that was Vietnam (a war where sexual habits seemingly dance hand in hand with everything else) - where you have stress, where you have fear, you'll gonna have the need for release, and let's face it, boys and girls, there ain't much else that better for release than a good old-fashioned run around the corner, if you get my drift (you may not, since I just made that expression up and even I don't know what the hell it means).
Just ask anyone here during our Ravenous Romance Wednesdays.
Anyway, I'm getting off the point. Lowry's book is chopped up into short chapters, each covering one aspect of sex during the era. The basic concept (pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, rape, etc.) is introduced in a short paragraph, and is then followed up with numerous anecdotes and missives collected from the period, with an even briefer summary at the end, which usually is nothing more than a "yup, there was pornography/prostitution/homosexuality/rape/etc.). As far as astute observations go, you're not going to get much out of Lowry, but that's not to say there not some good stuff here. There is. Read enough and you can find some provoking trends, such as the punishments doled out to white versus black soldiers, to officers versus enlisted men, and when the victim was white versus black. There are surprises to be had on both sides of the war, and my biggest regret is that Lowry chooses to list out example after example of things I don't think anyone ever really doubted occurred instead of diving deeper into the nature of why.
All in all I actually enjoyed The Stories Soldiers Wouldn't Tell... quite a bit despite it's lack of ambition. For those interested I'll point out two things:
- There is a crazy chapter about the possibility of Abraham Lincoln being gay. Not crazy as in, "Whaddya mean he's GAY?!" but rather, "I was just reading about the Clap and crudely drawn pictures of naked ladies. Where the $#@! did THIS come from?"
- Sex in olden days seems like a hot topic for Dr. Lowry. He also has a book out called "Venereal Disease and Lewis and Clark. I kid you not.
3 comments:
hahaha great review, guys you both did great here. Tell you what Chris, you do the contest and prizes and i'll do the review next time, but I am not reading the Bible, I had quite enough of that at Convent school and look how that turned out. ;p
Well heck, Adele! I had sixteen years of good Catholic education and look how I turned out!..We're currently doing the interview and hope to have that ready for posting soon.
May the ancient fannish deity Ghu make the straight ways rough and, therefore, much more fun. ;-)
Jack *hugs* That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me in ages.
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