All Things Altered

Few readers of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind remained unmoved by how the strong-willed Scarlett O'Hara tried to rebuild Tara after the Civil War ended. This book examines the problems that Southern women faced during the Reconstruction Era, in Part I as mothers, wives, daughters or sisters of men burdened with financial difficulties and the radical Republican regime, and in Part II with specific illustrations of their tribulations through the letters and diaries of five different women. Two of the women are: a lonely widow with young children, Sally Randle Perry, struggling to get her life back together following the death of her husband in the war; and Virginia Caroline Smith Aiken, a wife and mother, born into affluence and security, trying to emerge from the financial and psychological problems of the postwar world.

"highly recommended"--Choice; "[this] work is of great value"--The Civil War Courier; "a very detailed and well-written anecdotal narrative"--Civil War Book Review; "well-written...excellent...vivid...author, who has done a great deal of careful research, writes with verve and assurance...straightforward"--The Civil War News; "this work succeeds in illustrating the chaos caused by the social, economic, and political uncertainty and hardship that defined the Reconstruction Era South"--Colorado Libraries.

The late Marilyn Mayer Culpepper, a retired professor from Michigan State University, lived in Lansing, Michigan.