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Cokie Roberts on Capital Women

With her latest book Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868, Cokie Roberts zeroes in on the wives, sisters, and female friends of the men leading America into, and through, this unprecedented conflict. Because of the war, these belles of Washington society blossomed into suffragists, journalists, social activists, and philanthropists, engaging with the issues of the day on their own terms and, along with the women who worked in and influenced the government, transformed a sleepy, social Southern city into a place of power and action.

Roberts commemorates these remarkable women and their achievements in a riveting narrative that, drawing heavily on their intimate and professional correspondence, brings them to life in their own words, and tracks them through the newspaper accounts at the time. Against the dramatic backdrop of the DouglasLincoln debates, John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry, and costly battlefield confrontations, she delves deeper into the contributions and legacies of familiar figures like nurse Clara Barton, the seamstress and social activist, former slave Elizabeth Keckley, and First Ladies Harriet Lane and Mary Todd Lincoln, painting a colorful portrait of their time in rapidly changing Washington.