For Church and Confederacy

"a highly original account of one of the more important ways in which Catholicism operated in the Confederacy, insightful in its presentation and selection of texts, and engagingly edited throughout...the book belongs in any library that deals in any depth with the Papacy, slavery, American history, and in particular with the history of the American Civil War."—The Heythrop Journal

"Curran has done students of American Catholicism and nineteenth-century South Carolina a tremendous service by publishing this volume. It deserves a wide readership among those interested in southern religion and southern Catholicism in particular.... [it] effectively reveals the tragedy of the Civil War for much of the white population of the South, regardless of religious affiliation."—American Catholic Studies

"The letters of the Lynch family bear witness to a pivotal and tragic period in the history of the South. They testify to the resilience of people who endured tragedies, including the calamity of war, and yet found in their relationships with God and one another the strength to persevere... By making these letters accessible, Curran has resurrected the dead and given them voice, the ultimate achievement of a historian."—The Journal of Southern Religion

"This fascinating volume, expertly edited by a distinguished historian, takes us into the lives of the Lynch family as they pass through the maelstrom of civil war in South Carolina. From the vast collection of letters and other writings the Lynch family left behind, Curran has carefully selected those that best reveal the exciting story of this remarkable family. Here is a book everyone with interest in the South and America's Civil War will want to own and enjoy reading."—Don H. Doyle, University of South Carolina

"Robert Emmett Curran's brilliantly edited collection of provides an insider's view of a world few in their day or historians later have seen. Moving back-and-forth from the personal to the political, the letters give telling insights into religion, region, race, and relationships that reveal what it meant to be "southern" and Catholic in the Civil War era."—Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's University

"This rich collection of letters gives us indispensable insight into the lives of South Carolina's most important Roman Catholic family. Curran's fine editing and contextualization of the Lynch family letters are a major contribution in helping us understand what it meant to be Catholic, immigrant, and Irish in a society dominated by slavery and its defense."—David T. Gleeson, Northumbria University

"beautifully transcribed and annotated... The readability and clever language in each letter along with the inclusion of local and regional happenings helped me as a reader to see the beginning, the development and the ending of a family story that was deeply involved in the War....you can be assured of reading letters both informative and filled with the love and good feelings within the Lynch family!"—Carol Jordan, The Southeastern Librarian