Mothers of Invention by Miss Drew Gilpin Faust - Book Report/Review Example

 Mothers of Invention by Miss Drew Gilpin Faust Introduction: Different nations, through their evolutionary processes undergo various adverse circumstances. These adverse circumstances come up in different forms. For example the modern day France is a result of the French Revolution, the era revolving around the Renaissance and other associated events marked the turbulent times in the history of Europe. All these had significant importance in the historic perspectives. In the history of United States of America, there were number of events that unfolded the history towards development and progress. The Civil war was one of them. The civil war was one major account that has had a large and reflecting impact on the overall society of America. It shaped the outlook of the politics in America, it shaped the economic structure of America, it even shaped the living patterns of individuals who resided in the country. The overall mindset was changed and impacted by the civil war. Although, initially full of bloodshed and atrocities, yet in the long run it was an agent of awakening and guidance towards the society and the people and in turn awarded Americans with what is termed as the modern day gifts that it owes to the early days of turbulence, imbalance and bloodshed and slaughter. About the author: Miss Drew Gilpin Faust enjoys a rich name and repute in the modern day American history. She has earned this through her contributions. These contributions come in the form of literary works, historic accounts and the accomplishments on the academic front. She is the proud representative of the top two universities of United States of America. She at present holds the honors of being the president of the Harvard University. She has also remained associated with the Lincoln College. She has remained affiliated with other colleges and universities too. One of these stunts of her contributions came about during her stay in University of Pennsylvania. Her forte is history and Art collectively. Her focus of study has been the past events that had a significant impact on the coming eras. She therefore took deep interest in the domain of civil war and tried covering different aspects of the war. She holds a doctorate degree and her field of specialty is that of American studies and the historic perspective analysis in a critical manner. To her credit there are half a dozen pieces of literary works. Apart from this one, which is the subject of study, her other notable works include This Republic of Suffering and many other similar efforts and works that speak volume of her achievements, contributions and dedications towards a certain specific line of course. Her works are motivated towards civil rights and social problems faced at a given time. Therefore it can be said that her works are based on social awakening and assessment of the past accounts and events that may have unfolded in history of a nation. Thesis of the author: The civil war which was actually a dissecting of the society into multiple segments, led to the emancipation and the coming of age of women in the other angle. The women in the south came up as the front runners towards progressive future. Why is the author interested in this subject? The author’s interest can be reflected from multiple accounts and events. The first is her association and affiliation with the field. Investigation of her academic background and other credentials show her strong relation and affiliation with the past history, predominately American history, the events that unfolded and the overall impact it had on American mindset and American society as a whole, as a result the focus of study of the author. Why did the author write this book? From the interview of the author about the book, according to her , the idea for writing the book came about on account of her desire to writing and exploring the dimensions of the civil war further more and defining the contributing roles of the women in a more effective manner that have not been defined too well previously. The author states that although her work has been rotated and revolved around the civil war and its associated factors, yet the subject of women, how they underwent the scenarios and how they gave the sacrifices has not been touched upon in that greater a detail and neither has it been done by the author herself ,as a result her desire and output result of writing on the book as she did in the form of this book presented. Other reason presented by and investigated is the author’s mother’s response and reviews about the overall scenario. The mother had once told her that it’s a men’s world and there is little due and attention given to the women’s problems and their potential contributions towards history, as a result there is little fruit from the effort she is making in. This may have come as a challenge to the author and potentially another reason why the author wrote the book and more specifically wrote it on the topic of women, their sufferings they underwent and the contributions made and eventually the long term impacts they have had on the overall mindset. Two to four pages on the subject of the book? The book gives an in depth account of the bloody civil war that Americans faced during the days of infancy. It was a war that was catastrophic on all accounts. Not just the life losses, but the other damages incurred, were the direct gifts and results of the war. The people, who were directly impacted by it, lost their lives, those who were lucky enough on this account were to suffer more severely in other context and lateral outlook of the society. It was an event that disturbed the life of millions, without any discrimination and discourse in between, it targeted anyone unbiased that came in the line of fire of this most wretched civil war. The South region was amongst the top most areas that suffered the most damages in all contexts of the definition of the word damage. The title: Mothers of Invention is referred to the ladies who went through the practical crisis. The confederate women from North Carolina were the direct people addressed in the book who gave large number of sacrifices and made it possible writing history. The book is a second hand account of the women from the South who made their presence felt, contributed in different manners, direct and indirect and provided their men with all kinds of support they could. The mention of their contribution is important since it was the first and the unprecedented account of events that took place at that time and in turn gave the women courage and confidence going into the future era where they would be faced with more grave problems of social nature. The book and the author’s work give an account of the contributions made by the women during the civil war. While the civil war was primarily restricted to the men fighting in the battle field, the women’s spirits rose equally and they wanted to contribute in any way possible. Since they could not make it to the battle fields directly, they instead made it so through the indirect means. The indirect means included the facilitation of the men, accommodating them with warm clothes and providing them any possible help they could in their own ranged and reachable capacity. The women from the south aimed at providing the backup support to their men in form of bandages support, nursing the wounded, conveying the messages, providing them with shelter and food and other goods transport to the battle field. All these were the major contributions of the women from that day and this makes up for the content of the book. From an angle the author also tries to touch upon the point that when the men left for the battle fields, it were the women who made the major decisions of the houses. They had to face the difficult decisions of the social outer world in the absence of their husbands. They had to look after the young ones, which was a equally daunting challenge posed to the women at that time. The author has aimed at providing an insight into the women who tried to break the status quo and undertook a path that would give them liberty, freedom, security and sense of accomplishment in the longer run. The author being the female herself tries to assess the sentimental element and analyzes the perspective of the women’s feelings and the possible elements that may have brought about such responses and determination from the women to go about challenging the women of authority and accomplishing items and elements out of nowhere. The book gives an account of the writings and other historic elements and traces that have been found and collected through the course of the time and later on studied and investigated for research and observational study in the modern day times by writers one as this one. The book also gives an account of how the women confronted the enemy. There were moments when the women were faced with the rivals on occasions and they had to adopt strategies that would foil the rivals aims and objectives. They at the same time ensured keeping the places and making sure they do not flee else the land and other parts would be captured by the rivals group. This is another example of the bravery and well organized efforts of the women from the south. The author further believes that the civil war, which was completely deadly in its outlook, was a blessing in disguise in a certain way. It allowed for the empowerment and the concept of women’s emancipation in those days. This would help the overall women and the overall mindset in a very positive manner in the longer run. What evidence does the author use? The author provides details of the actual facts that took place during those days. The mention of the actual events, actual location and other actual facts and incidents that took place is used as a substance of element and evidence by the author to elucidate her view point towards conveying the entire message of the book in a more effective, louder and clear message. The different usages of historic accounts are the solid evidences used by the author in different forms and shapes. Is the author’s argument effective? Defend? The author’s arguments are effective and strong enough in their existence. They have been defined and constructed along the reason and structure of logic and evidence. They derive their statements based on facts. Facts that have been supported tested and verified on multiple accounts and fronts. The co relation of the civil war events to the number of global events and later verification and mention of the same events by the other notable authors with little variation and fluctuation of the facts allow for strength and solid viewpoints that are being expressed by the author. What was interesting? The book was interesting on multiple fronts. For once, it was an account of the history. Studying about the historic events is always fascinating. Since it is collection of stories and events that have taken place in the past and are real and rational therefore they hold the attention of the readers. The other fact interesting about this book is the fact that the women have been subjected to direct attention. Little record can be traced in this regard about the authors dedicating entire works to the women and the performance and contributions made by them in short term and long term towards the American history. The writing material and the overall research put into the work also adds crisp to the entire work. Who would be interested in reading this book? The students of history would be the direct interest group of this book. Since it provides an account of the historic events so that makes it as an obvious choice of study and reading for the people who have even little interest in the history would find themselves attracted to the book. The book may also find attraction and increased attention from the social workers and other people who aim to support and defend the rights of women. Those who advocate the women emancipation and raise their voices on different platforms would use this book as a reference and possible motivation against the scenarios that the women are faced with at present. Hence this book will find multiple interest groups with primarily focus of attention coming from the history students and then followed by the social progress demanding individuals. What level of expertise is this book written for? (Novice, secondary, undergrad and Grad?) The book will find large number of attraction from the secondary and undergrad level. It may also find attraction and reading interest from the graduate school level readers. Based on the detailed description of the events it will find readers and writing material extraction as reference by the university students who may want to specialize in the study of one particular domain which is covered by author in the form of the study and assessment of the women’s status and contributions during those days. Conclusion: The overall work of the author Drew Gilpin Faust is important on multiple accounts. Not just the historic precedence, but also the social awakening purpose fulfilled by the book. It allowed for the stepping stone setup for the future women in the American society, who would go on to contribute and participate in a more effective manner. It can be contested that the manner in which women are contributing in present day, may not had been able to do so without such contributions and such break through achievement that was achieved so during this particular and significant event of the civil war (Faust 2004). References: Faust, Drew Gilpin. Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War. Univ of North Carolina Press, 2004. Read More