In this Book
- Aberration of Mind: Suicide and Suffering in the Civil War–Era South
- Book
- 2018
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press

summary
More than 150 years after its end, we still struggle to understand the full extent of the human toll of the Civil War and the psychological crisis it created. In Aberration of Mind, Diane Miller Sommerville offers the first book-length treatment of suicide in the South during the Civil War era, giving us insight into both white and black communities, Confederate soldiers and their families, as well as the enslaved and newly freed. With a thorough examination of the dynamics of both racial and gendered dimensions of psychological distress, Sommerville reveals how the suffering experienced by Southerners living in a war zone generated trauma that, in extreme cases, led some Southerners to contemplate or act on suicidal thoughts.
Sommerville recovers previously hidden stories of individuals exhibiting suicidal activity or aberrant psychological behavior she links to the war and its aftermath. This work adds crucial nuance to our understanding of how personal suffering shaped the way southerners viewed themselves in the Civil War era and underscores the full human costs of war.
Sommerville recovers previously hidden stories of individuals exhibiting suicidal activity or aberrant psychological behavior she links to the war and its aftermath. This work adds crucial nuance to our understanding of how personal suffering shaped the way southerners viewed themselves in the Civil War era and underscores the full human costs of war.
Table of Contents

- List of Figures
- pp. ix-x
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xvi
- Introduction
- pp. 1-20
- Part I. Confederate Men and Women during the Civil War
- Part II. African American Southerners in Slavery and Freedom
- Part III. Confederate Men and Women in the Aftermath of War
- Chapter 7. All Is Dark before Me
- pp. 197-234
- Conclusion
- pp. 255-262
- Bibliography
- pp. 365-416
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469643588
Related ISBN(s)
9781469643304, 9781469643564, 9781469643571, 9798890854575
MARC Record
OCLC
1054245896
Pages
448
Launched on MUSE
2018-10-01
Language
English
Open Access
Yes