Lincoln's Lady Spymaster

I didn't realize who Gerri Willis was until after I had finished reading her Lincoln's Lady Spymaster - The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War (#1,365).  Although I did find this an interesting read, I think the title is a bit misleading.  Ms. Willis does chronicle a bit about Elizabeth Van Lew, the Richmond society belle who remained staunchly Northern in her sympathies throughout the Civil War, but the author does tend to go off on lengthy tangents about other Civil War movers and shakers, especially John Wilkes Booth.  In fact, much of this material is ably covered in Erik Larson's recent book: The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism.  I would have much preferred a book about the purported subject.

Missing from this account are any details about how her spy network actually worked; the nuts and bolts of the operation.  Just how did Elizabeth Van Lew survive in such a hostile environment both during the War itself and the bitter aftermath?  Ms. Willis alludes to the fact that her neighbors hated her, but how did she actually cope on her own?  She turns Miss Van Lew into a pathetic old ghost of her own story.  If there wasn't enough material to fill an entire book, perhaps it would have been better to include her story in an anthology of Civil War characters.  Just my opinion.  If you're interested in women's roles during the Civil War period in Richmond, read Mary Chestnut's A Diary from Dixie instead.