At the beginning of the Civil War, members of Abraham Lincoln’s administration were scrambling to build a strategy against the newly formed Confederate Army.
But they soon became aware of an unforeseen threat to their military operations: female spies.
Hundreds of women moved goods and information across enemy lines in what would be a gender turning point in a bitterly divided country.
Karen Abbott’s third book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy(HarperCollins/2014), tells the true stories of four women who went undercover to help reunite the nation, or create a new one. Abbott will be reading at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville tonight at 7 p.m.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Karen Abbott about her book and how women redefined themselves in 19th century America.