<span><span>The letters, drafts, notes, and fragments comprising the correspondence between Sarah Helen Whitman (Poe’s onetime fiancée) and Julia Deane Freeman span a tumultuous period in American history, 1856–1863. The women critiqued women writers and commented provocatively on the impending Civil War, Spiritualism, the rising consciousness of women’s rights, and the prevailing tastes in theater, music, and art.<br/></span></span>