Civil War Sex Over @ Un:Bound

A couple of weeks ago Un:Bound hosted a small contest asking its readers to choose a book that the site wouldn't normally review, with the winner receiving a free book from Hagerat's trip to the World Horror Convention.  I upped the stakes a bit, stating that not only would I read and review the winner's selection for the site, but would do a short interview with the winner as well.

Well, when all was said and done the winning selection was Dr. Thomas P. Lowry's The Stories Soldiers Wouldn't Tell: Sex in the Civil War.  My review is up over at Un:Bound, and there's an excerpt below:

To the naysayers who said it couldn't be done...to the fearful who said it shouldn't be done...to the ones who know me and my legendary procrastination who proclaimed it wouldn't be done...

To all of you, I say "Fie!"  For I have not only read Jack C. Young's pick for the "Little Bit of Fun" contest, Dr. Thomas P. Lowry's The Stories Soldiers Wouldn't Tell: Sex in the Civil War, I am also about to review it!

Uh, right now!

The content of Stories Soliders Wouldn't Tell... would seem to be a no-brainer based on the title, but in fact it's a lot less salacious and controversial than the name implies.  It's simply a record of the sexual conduct during the Civil War.  Which in and of itself is fascinating: one of the key points Lowry makes in his (very roundabout and more than a little old fashioned way) is that it's indeed how conspicuous the absence of sex of any kind is missing from all the historical, biographical, and military accounts of one of if not the most impactful event in the modern history of the United States.

Check out the full review and subsequent interview with the winner over at Un:Bound.