The Gentlemen and the Roughs

"This might be the first 'military history' to take gender seriously, as well as the first gender history to accord military history its due." Amy S. Greenberg, author of Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire "It is commonplace to observe that war is the ultimate test of the 'manhood' of soldiers. But in the Civil War - as probably in all wars - the meaning of manhood was contested, as Lorien Foote makes clear in this fine study of Union soldiers. Making intelligent use of regimental reports and court-martial records, among other kinds of evidence, she teases out the various perceptions of manhood in this study that offers stimulating new interpretations of the values of soldiers in the broader context of American Victorian culture." James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era "From hazing with mule urine to pistols at ten paces, Foote provides a lively portrait of 'conduct unbecoming' and offers new insights into American masculinity in post-Civil War America." Catherine Clinton, author of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life "The Gentlemen and the Roughs" is an interesting book, carefully researched and covering an area of the Civil War that has been virtually ignored." J.W. Thacker, The Daily News Bowling Green Kentucky "Lorien Foote in The Gentlemen and the Roughs provides a fascinating perspective on the pervasive issues of manhood and honor that served to undermine the cohesion of the Union army ... Her research, which looks at the social history of military relationships, is invaluable to broadening our overall understanding of the American Civil War." Ryan Keating, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society Finalist for the 2011 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize "A seminal work... One of the best examples of new, sophisticated scholarship on the social history of Civil War soldiers." The Journal of Southern History "Will undoubtedly, and properly, be read as the latest word on the role of manhood in the internal dynamics of the Union army." Journal of the Civil War Era