A friend recommended this book to me a while back, and I'm so glad he did. It's an in-depth look at the life of Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew, but more than that, it provides insight to Richmond during the Civil War and what happened there during Reconstruction. Elizabeth not only funneled military data to the north, but she also worked hard for equality for blacks and women. For all three of these reasons, she was treated as a pariah in her beloved Richmond. Her enemies hounded her. The press despised her. People walked around her on the street. She became paranoid and friendless-a neighborhood witch. Varon observes that after Elizabeth's death, people remembered her that way and then declared she had always behaved in such a way--effectively rewriting her role in history as a madwoman.

Varon provides extensive foot notes and relies greatly on material of the period, especially Elizabeth's own journals and period newspapers. I haven't read a great deal about Reconstruction, and certainly not how it was in the Confederate capital of Richmond. The subject matter was fascinating and yet frustrating because of the cruelty of people and how Elizabeth's work was denigrated for so long. This is definitely a book I will keep on my shelf for future reference, and one I highly recommend for anyone interested in a different perspective on the Civil War and its aftermath. ( )

Finally! A book that does Ms. Van Lew justice. The only other stand alone book about her was called something like "Crazy Bet's Diary" and while it did just reprint her diary, and it provided some inside to who she was, it also added bits that made her appear just as a loon a lot of the time. This biography, however, is well thought out and written. One of the most famous people of the Civil War (or should be) is done justice in this thorough account of her life. ( )