A Woman of Valor, Stephen B. Oates
A Woman of Valor, Stephen B. Oates
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

A Woman of Valor
Clara Barton and the Civil War

Author: Stephen B. Oates

Narrator: Laural Merlington

Unabridged: 19 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/01/2020


Synopsis

When the Civil War broke out, Clara Barton wanted more than anything to be a Union soldier, an impossible dream for a thirty-nine-year-old woman, who stood a slender five feet tall. Determined to serve, she became a veritable soldier, a nurse, and a one-woman relief agency operating in the heart of the conflict. Now, award-winning author Stephen B. Oates, drawing on archival materials not used by her previous biographers, has written the first complete account of Clara Barton's active engagement in the Civil War.

By the summer of 1862, with no institutional affiliation or official government appointment, but impelled by a sense of duty and a need to heal, she made her way to the front lines and the heat of battle. Oates tells the dramatic story of this woman who gave the world a new definition of courage, supplying medical relief to the wounded at some of the most famous battles of the war—including Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Battery Wagner, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg. Committed to healing soldiers' spirits as well as their bodies, she served not only as nurse and relief worker, but as surrogate mother, sister, wife, or sweetheart to thousands of sick, wounded, and dying men.

About Stephen B. Oates

Stephen B. Oates is the author of many books, including The Approaching Fury, With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln, and Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., the latter two books winning, respectively, the Christopher Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award. Oates was a consultant and "talking head" in Ken Burns's Civil War series on PBS, and is a recipient of the Nevins-Freeman Award of the Chicago Civil War Round Table for lifetime achievement in the field of Civil War studies.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sally on August 11, 2015

This was a fascinating book, but I can't say I fell in love with Clara. She seemed a bit less self-serving than I'd imagined and a little more out for the fame and glory. Picky of me, considering she seldom got paid for any of her mind-boggling hard work on behalf of the soldiers. AND she was quite......more

Goodreads review by Kimberly on July 22, 2012

This was a fantastic book. It gave a new perspective to the Civil War from Clara Barton's point of view, straight from the battlefield and from Washington. Clara Barton was indeed a woman of valor, she was brave and relentless in her cause - to give comfort and medical assistance to the soldiers in......more

Goodreads review by Jean on August 30, 2021

Clara Barton was a most amazing woman and Oates has given us a good view of her life and times. Every woman and man should read this and learn more about her than just that she started the American Red Cross. A fascinating psychological study and a very complex, industrious woman who was a first at......more

Goodreads review by Michele on October 17, 2008

My college profesor wrote this book. Such interesting things to be learned about Clara Barton......more

Goodreads review by Hillary on August 29, 2024

Really good biography, but I was a little annoyed with Clara by the end. The work she did was selfless, and she sacrificed much to help others, but it seemed like she was very self-centered and wanted excessive recognition for what she did. I was also expecting to learn about how she founded the Ame......more