The byzantine world of The Citadel is fully revealed in this gripping account of Shannon Faulkner s attempt to become its first female cadet. In Glory s Shadow explores the history of a southern institution determined to preserve traditional lines of power and social influence while all around it America was changing.In 1993， Shannon -- then a high school senior -- filed suit against The Citadel， the public all-male military college in Charleston， South Carolina. She claimed that by refusing to admit her as a cadet the school was defying the Constitution. For three years an ugly battle raged: Courtroom clashes over justice， educational styles and the training of young men and women alternated with small-town pettiness， death threats and the vilest expressions of sexism and hate. Catherine S. Manegold covered the landmark battle for the New York Times; now she gives us the story behind the story. It starts in the antebellum South in 1822， when members of the white minority， terrified by the narrowly averted Denmark Vesey slave revolt， called for a citadel and hastily organized a private militia. Twenty years later that small home guard was remade into a school where white youths might gain access to a world of elegance， wealth and power. We see the school grow in size and reputation through two world wars until the last few decades， when， as America wrestled with chaotic calls to power from blacks， women， immigrants and homosexuals， The Citadel took the path the country as a whole was rejecting and proudly marched in place. The cadets clung to antique hierarchies born of slavery and war， employing careful courtesies in public while practicing archaic and often brutal rituals within their barracks.This is the world Shannon challenged. When she arrived at The Citadel s gates and was turned away because of her sex， the stage was set for conflict. We watch her struggle to a triumph that was short-lived: She won her case but left The Citadel after a single week -- three years at the center of the storm， and fear for her family s safety， finally wore her down. Manegold illuminates the course -- historical， judicial and psychological -- of Shannon s fight and uncovers a striking American drama， a clash between those who would preserve the rigid structures of the past and those trying to chart a new course in a nation remaking itself.