Synopses & Reviews
An unrivalled account of the American Civil War from the Confederate perspective. One of the most compelling personal narratives of the Civil War, Mary Chesnut's Diary was written between 1861 and 1865. As the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and the wife of an aide to the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, Chesnut was well acquainted with the Confederacy's prominent players and-from the very first shots in Charleston, South Carolina-diligently recorded her impressions of the conflict's most significant moments. One of the most frequently cited memoirs of the war, Mary Chesnut's Diary captures the urgency and nuance of the period in an epic rich with commentary on race, status, and power within a nation divided.
Synopsis
"A Diary from Dixie first published in the United States of America by D. Appleton and Company, 1905. This edition with an introduction by Catherine Clinton published in Penguin Books 2011."
About the Author
Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886) married James Chesnut, Jr., at the age of seventeen. Her writings were first published in 1905.
Catherine Clinton holds a chair in U.S. history at Queen's University Belfast, where she heads a postgraduate program in American history. She is the author of biographies on Fanny Kemble, Mary Lincoln, and Harriet Tubman.