The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries

by Mary Boykin Chesnut, Elisabeth Muhlenfeld (Editor), C. Vann Woodward (Editor)

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Pulitzer Prize-winning historian C. Vann Woodward and Chesnut's biographer Elisabeth Muhlenfeld present here the previously unpublished Civil War diaries of Mary Boykin Chesnut. The ideal diarist, Mary Chesnut was at the right place at the right time with the right connections. Daughter of one senator from South Carolina and wife of another, she had kin and friends all over the Confederacy and knew intimately its political and military leaders. At Montgomery when the new nation was founded, show more at Charleston when the war started, and at Richmond during many crises, she traveled extensively during the war. She watched a world "literally kicked to pieces" and left the most vivid account we have of the death throes of a society. The diaries, filled with personal revelations and indiscretions, are indispensable to an appreciation of our most famous Southern literary insight into the Civil War experience. show less

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2 reviews
I had to read this book for a program about the Civil War. As a primary historical document, I'm sure it is amazing. As a book fitting into a Civil War series....gads. The war plays a backdrop to parlor visits and headaches.

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Author Information

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Elisabeth Muhlenfeld is President of Sweet Briar College.
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One of the world's most distinguished historians, C. Vann Woodward was born in Vanndale, Arkansas, and educated at Emory University and the University of North Carolina, where he received his Ph.D. in 1937. After teaching at Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Florida, and Scripps College for a time, in 1946 he joined the faculty at show more The Johns Hopkins University, where he began producing the many young Ph.D.s who have followed him into the profession. In 1961 he became Sterling Professor at Yale University, where he remains today as emeritus professor. He has been the Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities, Harmsworth Professor at Oxford University, and Commonwealth Lecturer at the University of London. Past president of all the major historical associations, he holds the Gold Medal of the National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and is a member of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society. His honors also include a Bancroft Prize for Origins of the New South, 1876--1913 (1951) and a 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Mary Chesnut's Civil War (1981). A premier historian of the American South and of race relations in the United States, Woodward studies the South in a way that sheds light on the human condition everywhere. In recent years he has turned his attention increasingly to comparative history. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries
People/Characters
Mary Boykin Chesnut; James Chesnut, Jr.
Important places
USA
Important events
American Civil War (1861 | 1865); American Civil War (1861-1865)

Classifications

Genres
Nonfiction, History, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
DDC/MDS
973.7History & geographyHistory of North AmericaUnited StatesAbraham Lincoln, (1861-1865) Civil War
LCC
E487 .C525History of the United StatesUnited StatesCivil War period, 1861-1865The Civil War, 1861-1865Confederate States of America
BISAC

Statistics

Members
203
Popularity
160,346
Reviews
2
Rating
(3.19)
Languages
English
Media
Paper
ISBNs
2
ASINs
4