A Diary From Dixie [Hardcover]

Mary Boykin Chestnut (Author), Ben Ames Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 1997

This original diary of the wife of Confederate General James Chestnut, Jr., who was also an aide to President Jefferson Davis, provides an eyewitness narrative of all the years of the war. Period photographs illustrate this you-are-there account of the daily lives and tribulations of all who suffered through the war, from ordinary people to the Confederacy's generals and political figures.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This original diary of the wife of Confederate General James Chestnut, Jr., who was also an aide to President Jefferson Davis, provides an eyewitness narrative of all the years of the war. Period photographs illustrate this you-are-there account of the daily lives and tribulations of all who suffered through the war, from ordinary people to the Confederacy's generals and political figures.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Gramercy (March 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517182661
• ISBN-13: 978-0517182666
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable insight into the Southern Confederacy, October 2, 2003

By 

bixodoido (Utah, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Diary From Dixie (Hardcover)

This primary source document is one of the best windows we have into southern society during the American Civil War. Mary Chestnut was a southern aristocrat, married to the man who was the first to resign his seat in the US Senate before the war. She knew many prominent Confederate leaders well--Jefferson Davis, John Bell Hood, and Wade Hampton among them--and was acquainted with nearly all of the major players in the war (she even spent several occasions in the company of Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston). Because she knew so many people, she was in a position to cast a very revealing light on the war from the southern point of view.

Besides knowing so many influential leaders, Mary Chestnut also lived in both Confederate capitals--Montgomery, Alabama and Richmond, Virginia--while they were the government seats. Her husband's plantation was in South Carolina, and in fact her home in Columbia, South Carolina lay right in the path of Sherman's destructive march through the South. As such, Chestnut is poised to offer very interesting commentary on the fire that burned much of that city. Mary and her husband gave their all to the Confederacy, and lost much of what they had because of the Civil War.

Several things in this journal are unique and worthy of mention. First, Chestnut and her friends are living the high life for much of the war, having parties, dinners, and luncheons and more-or-less living it up, even when the Yankees are approaching Richmond. They live comfortable lives, and, though Mary has a very insightful perspective into the suffering of her soldiers, she often spends as much time complaining about some minor inconvenience (such as being without her maid for a week) as she does deploring the sorry state of the starved and ill-clothed soldiers. Mary does what she can, and helps in many ways, but she is not willing to give up her parties, even when her husband repeatedly begs her too.

This diary also provides a unique view of slavery. A staunch abolitionist, Chestnut hated slavery less for the cruel treatment of the slaves than for the insolent behavior of many of them. Her husband's slaves were well taken care of, and did less work than they consumed in goods. Mary recounts many horrific tales of what happened when the slaves were set free--a story of a white family going along a road and picking up a wagonload of Negro infants which had been abandoned by parents enjoying their freedom, for example. She never questions that slavery is wrong, but she does argue that Harriet Beecher Stowe's account of slavery was the exception, not the rule. This is an interesting perspective, whatever the truth of it.

All in all, this is a great diary, and a splendid resource. Thank goodness this book has been reissued. The edition edited by Ben Ames Williams contained unsatisfactory notes, including some in which Williams shamelessly engaged in self-promotion of his novel. This book is indispensable for anyone looking for primary accounts of the human aspect of the war between the states.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intimate account of war's effects on the homefront, June 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Diary From Dixie (Hardcover)

The keeper of this diary writes in an intimate and honest manner about herself and those around her, and about Southern hopes for victory or at least peaceful co-existence. The diary entries draw you in to her world. You feel like you are chatting with her in the parlor or at her desk as she relates the events of the day, what famous figures she dined or went riding with, etc. Very enjoyable and poignant to read. This was a brave woman who did her best under consistently deteriorating circumstances. I found her comments about her marriage particularly surprising and honest given the standards and social mores of the time. Her husband seems emotionally remote and she chides him for being so. Definitely not given to "hero worshipping," the author gives her honest opinions - good and bad - of just about everyone around her. I recommend this book, even if you aren't a Civil War buff.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars incomplete version of famous diary, December 11, 1999

By 

Patricia O'Tuama "rissa" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Diary From Dixie (Hardcover)

(...)certainly I always thought "Diary from Dixie" was the real thing but I discovered while reading "Mary Chesnut's Civil War" (edited by C. Vann Woodward, Yale University 1981) that, in the first place, the material that is exerpted in "Diary from Dixie" was actually written by Mary Chesnut between 1881-1884, nearly 20 years after the Civil War ended. Secondly, "Diary from Dixie" (which was published 15 years after Chesnut died) was put together and edited by two other women who were under contract to their publishing company to produce a heavily abridged, selectively-edited volume of about 130,000 words in length (Chesnut's 1880's "Diary" is more than three times that in length). Woodward maintains that the editors were "concerned that Chesnut passages out of line with the current Southern version of the Confederate legend be deleted. Mrs. Witherspoon's death is mentioned, for example, but with no hint that her slaves had anything to do with it."

Mary Chesnut is so interesting that it only makes sense to read her work as she intended it to be read and for that you need "Mary Chesnut's Civil War." Out-of-print now but also worth reading is "The Private Mary Chesnut: the Unpublished Civil War Diaries" (Oxford University 1984) which is the actual journal text that Chesnut wrote during the war (and on which she based her 1880's "Diary"). Note, however, that this book only covers the entries made during 1861 and 1865 (the original journals for 1862, 1863 and 1864 have not survived).