The insight into the mind and perspective of the slave owning 1% was neither surprising nor uplifting. What I took away from this diary was something of the horror of loss, as Mary Chesnut's society reeled from death after death, not just of men from combat, but children and women in part from the deprivations war mandated they endure. It has useful footnotes, especially where she uses pseudonyms or nicknames; and to reference books and poems she refers to or quotes unclearly. Another interesting look at the Southern point of view is Sarah Morgan: Civil War Diary of a Southern Woman.
by Yale University Press I should imagine many a good southern wife was beaten to death by her God-ordained master, her husband.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 14 years ago 90% Of the footnotes were of no interest, though on page 232: "In 1844, the governor of Mass. She was from a fine family with her father being a senator and one of the largest slave owners in South Carolina. Smallchief This is the journal of a wealthy white Southern woman whose husband was an officer in the Confederacy.
Electrifying." I have also been reading slave narratives and history books about the war, trying to understand what happened. --Walter Clemons, Newsweek "Here is a book to curl up with over a whole lifetime--to read and reread, to ponder and savor."
Mary's daily entries are often so cryptic that her writing becomes unintelligible. Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago I'm on a personal crusade to demonstrate to the rest of the world that a bunch of other stuff happened through my own reading, so I generally avoid those eras.
She provides some really interesting perspectives on the war, government, slavery, and the role of women in her society. It was both painful to read and fascinating because it offers such an intimate look into the complex heritage of my home state. It's certainly not a casual book to read, but is filled with a tremendous amount of insight into the daily lives of those at home during the Civil War within the south. That said, there is much to leaThis book is rather difficult to get into in the first few hundred pages. I'm on a personal crusade to demonstrate to the rest of the world that a bunch of other stuff happened through my own reading, so I generally avoid those eras.
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That those observations include rank rumor and the popular apocryphal stories of the day just adds a bit of flavoring. It could get somewhat repetitious as she visited friends and exchanged gossip. I've mentioned before having some conflicting issues with reading posthumously published diaries or journals, because I always get stuck on the point that the deceased may not have meant for their words to see the light of day... or, for that matter, the lights of many days.
The Editor received a Pulitzer Prize for his work. Given her situation in life it is not surprising that Mrs. Chesnut had an elite circle of friends and knew everyone that was anyone. It is interesting from a social history perspective but I bought the book for what I expected to be a commentary on the issues and the ongoing battles. Sometimes Mary Chestnut did not have enough to eat and depended for a while on others to bring food to her. One gets a great sense of a real person--someone who shows hope one day, despair the next.History and Civil War enthusiasts will enjoy this poignant and truthful look on Southern morals, everyday life and behind-the-scenes political observations. Taking it with a healthy grain of salt (as I do all autobiographies), it portrays a view of life during the Civil War and the hardships faced by those left at home. Reading her diary is like sitting down for coffee with her and listening to the events,real or rumored, that she chats about. While the editor does a good job of annotating most of the names the first time and providing an index, there are just a lot of people to keep track of. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of (The frank tension between Mary and her husband is an interesting sidelight to the main story of the diary.)
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago "Mary Chesnuts's Civil War" is a monumental reading task: lviii introductory pages, 836 pages of smallish text, and 49 index pages listing more than 1,000 people mentioned in the text. And here we are today with a brand-new, throwback of a white supremacist president. That said, there is much to learn here. Her reports on the initial euphoria of southern independence from the north and later the reality of hardship and war, are touching, even for one not in deep sympathy with her ideals. However, in this instance, Mary Chesnut knew exactly what she was doing.If you have an aunt who gossips about people you don't know and you find it fascinating, this book is for you. These are from the last chapters of the book and are exactly as they sound.
this was a little slow going, but that shouldn't be held against the book.Okay... this was a little slow going, but that shouldn't be held against the book.I had always wondered where Ken Burns got all those wonderful quotes for his PBS Civil War documentary.