This podcast contains adult themes and listener discretion is advised.

Welcome to Most Contorings, I'm Eric Rivettas.

Today we're traveling back to the 1860s and the American Civil War.

This was a war started by men and fought by men.

The vast majority of books written about the Civil War focus on the politics and the battles that defined it.

There were, however, a few women who helped shape the conflict in their own unique way.

They were spies and effective ones too.

This is our subject on this week's episode of Most Notorious.

I'm excited to be joined by Karen Abbott, the New York Times best-selling author of American Rose,

Sin in the Second City, and the book we're going to be talking about today,

Lier, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, for women undercover in the Civil War.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thanks for having me, Eric.

So most books about the Civil War focus on the men that started it and fought it.

And when women appear, they're usually the recipients of heartfelt letters from lonely soldiers

or they are patriotically sewing away on flags and uniforms for whichever side they support.

Your book focuses on the stories of four very strong women who take a very active and incredibly courageous role in the war effort.

Yeah, I sort of came upon my interest in the Civil War in a indirect way.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia and never really thought much about the Civil War until I moved to Atlanta, Georgia,

where of course they're still fighting the Civil War in many ways.

And it was quite a culture shock.

I had to get used to seeing the occasional Confederate flag on somebody's lawn hearing jokes about the quote,

...