Customer Reviews

Crowns of Thorns and Glory: Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Howell Davis: The Two First Ladies of the Civil War

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This is one of the best books on the Civil War era in that it not only tells a part of the story from each "side," it tells it from a woman's point of view. The two first ladies of the time were in some ways very much alike and in other ways very different. I came to care about each of them, but must admit that I felt very close to Varina Davis because she was so REAL. I get the impression that she could make a person feel comfortable, that she did not use her status for personal gain or "look down her nose" at anyone. I will not forget when she walked in the mud carrying a child so that her nurse, who was ill, could ride in the wagon. Varina blossomed from a shy, young and beautiful (second) wife of a very influential man to an outgoing, personable, gracious first lady who remained "human" all the way. She suffered greatly both in her personal life and with her country. I have borrowed this book twice since it has gone out of print. Now I have Amazon tracking it down for me. It's a great read!

I stumbled across this book when I read the author's obituary in the Washington Post. It is out of print but I was lucky enough to get a used copy. I was fascinated by the parallels presented between the two First Ladies of the War Between the States. (Including that they both tragically lost young sons while their husbands were in office.) I already knew a good bit about Mrs. Lincoln but absolutely nothing about Mrs. Davis. She was a remarkable woman. The book is thoroughly researched and put to bed some of the myths about Mrs. Lincoln. It is a good read.

A crown of Thorns & Glory by the late Gerry Van Der Heuvel was a book I had wanted to read since the early 1990s! Maybe it was the long wait or maybe it was because I read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book first but I was a bit disappointed. The author is a newspaper journalist by profession and the book reflects her skills. An historian she was not as I could not get a firm grasp of each woman as a person. Don't get me wrong and I enjoyed reading about the lives of both Mary Lincoln and Varina Davis, but I wanted to know more. The author gave plenty of details about that period, but less about who these women were in relations to the monumental events going on at the time.

I especially wanted to understand the southern mind of that period and how it affected the women. Unfortunately, the reader does not understand Varina Davis as compared to Mary Todd Lincoln. Maybe it is because Varina was the wife of a treasonous leader and not worthy whereas Mary Lincoln was the wife of the greatest president of the United States? I can't make that judgment in this review. But what I did find out is how important and influential the Daviess' were to Washington politics before the war. Varina was what Mary was not--an insider with the approval of her peers? As soon as the south seceded from the union and installed Jefferson Davis as president of the confederate states, Varina quickly started entertaining in the same way as if they were the first couple of the whole union. She had practice as she was considered a Washington insider since the Polk administration. Her husband was legendary even before they married as he was previously wedded to John Tyler's daughter who died early in the marriage.

The author goes back and forth between women as events dictate. As the government in Washington was going through tumultuous times, Mary Lincoln became was an easy target. It was inexperienced and being an outsider that contributed to such attacks. She did not play the game as well as her husband who was skilled at manipulating Washington opinions. Not only was there confederate sympathies still lingering in Washington as the war started, but she was getting hammered by the radical republicans at any given moment. I guess you could say she was the Bill Clinton of that period in that she helped her enemies to attack her.

She came from a large influential family in Kentucky and majority of her siblings supported and fought for the confederacy. When the husband of her favorite younger half sister died in battle, the Lincolns reached out to her and allowed her to stay at the White House with the war still raging. Mary Todd's widowed sister still supported the confederacy and would argue while attending an informal White House dinner. When another half sister who was the wife of an active Confederate office asked to visit the White House and obtain favors to move goods but was quickly denied, it raised concerns directed Mary. It was alleged according to family legend that the sister some how smuggled contraband to the enemy. These rumors fueled directly at Mary Lincoln's involvement that it was reported a secret Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War was convened for investigation. When the matter was brought to Lincoln, it was quickly dropped as he defended his wife through "almost unhuman sadness." Lincoln was able to use the sympathy card to get these men off his wife's back.

Varina Davis' ancestry traces back to the American Revolution and was not necessarily a natural southern Democrat. Varina's father, William Burr Howell, was the son of Richard Howell, a Revolution Wary hero and later eight-term governor of New Jersey. He was also second cousin to Aaron Burr which added to the nobility factor grow up. Her family roots were considered blue bloods that looked down at the Democratic Party in Mississippi. For them, Democrats were considered "po' white trash not taken intellectually serious. Varina grew up admiring Whigs and following the same political values as her parents. So for her, confederate ideology was her husband's brand of politics. When her husband was reelected while the south was losing, she knew the end was coming fast. It made me curious to know more about Varina's political view as the author just skims through it and never fully explores what her own political outlook.

The book is enjoyable to read but opens up more questions about both women than it answers.

This book,about the wife of Jefferson Davis-the President of an independent South, is an overlooked masterpiece of an overlooked heroine of the South. It is not the story of Magnolia and moonlight..but is the story of of the wife of a beleagured first lady to the President of a beleaguered and invaded nation at total war in the forlorn fight for independence.There are many commarisons to the spendthrift and mentally ill wife of The Invader, Abe Lincoln And Varina is by far the better woman. Varina's life is that of a true woman of strengh and courage both during the time of war and of defeat. This book deserves to be read by all those who claim feminism as their credo and they will learn what a woman of courage can do an be in a time that most living Americans cannot comprehend.