Mary Chesnut's Civil War [Paperback]

Mary Chesnut (Author), C. Vann Woodward (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 1993

An authorized account of the Civil War, drawn from the diaries of a Southern aristocrat, records the disintegration and final destruction of the Confederacy.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 892 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300029799
• ISBN-13: 978-0300029796
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War > Confederacy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

126 of 128 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed, but worth it! July 7, 1999

By [e-mail]

Format:Hardcover

The 1982 Pulitzer prize winner in history, Mary Chesnut's Civil War is a heavily footnoted look at the social and political climate in South Carolina from 1861-1865. Because Mrs. Chesnut was the wife of a prominent politician of the day, she had communication with many famous political figures, such as Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis (the President of the Confederacy.) This book is worth reading cover to cover because of the personal commentary of Mrs. Chesnut about the War between the States, and also her observations on what was being said by others and in the media, nearly on a daily basis. Mr. Woodward's extensive footnotes help the modern day reader to grasp literary references and differences in language made by Mrs. Chesnut, and also aid in the identification of all the personalities she includes in her observations.

Although not unbiased, Mrs. Chesnut makes an attempt to be more objective than subjective and sees her writings as a possible important part of history in the future. 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. Although it is hard to stay focused on at times because of less relevant information, there are many nuggets of valuable observations that make this book worth reading.

Another interesting look at the Southern point of view is Sarah Morgan: Civil War Diary of a Southern Woman.

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Immerse Yourself In Chesnut's Suffering World September 16, 2005

By Ellie Reasoner

Format:Paperback

Mary Chesnut was a name dropper, and thank goodness, because in passing along her gossip, opinions, news, and personal undertakings, she created the most comprehensive day-to-day record of life in the Confederacy that we have. Although this is both a diary and a later refurbishment of earlier writings (to the point it almost becomes a memoir in epistolary form) Mrs. Chesnut, an aristocratic lady in a position to know a great deal about the workings of her short-lived nation, makes everything seem like a first-hand conversation. Chesnut, like Mrs. Grant and Amanda Wilson, a Civil War-era diarist from Cincinnati, Ohio, has a true gift at making the distant seem immediate. 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. 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. By the mid-point of her diary, it is a rare entry, indeed, in which Chesnut does not tell of the passing of at least one more friend, or son of a friend. She lived through the destruction of a society and a war in which blood flowed in rivers. Chesnut personally knew a number of the primary figures of the American Civil War, including the wife of Jefferson Davis. She gives a point of view that is not hamstrung by being modern in sensibility, and charts a course of the war's prosecution that might vicariously suggest a later alteration of the record in northern-authored history books. For all these reasons, Chesnut's diary is worth reading.

70 of 75 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A good way to immerse yourself in the time July 18, 2000

By Schmerguls VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I found the reading of this Pulitzer-prize-winning book an excellent way to seem to live in South Carolina and Virginia during the Civil War. I have no Southern background, and have always been pleased the Civil War turned out as it did, but his book gives some insight into the thinking of the secessionists and Southerners in the time of the War. The book is excellently edited, and the literary footnotes are a big help to see what the intelligent Southerner was reading during the war. Now I would like to read a biography of Mrs. Chesnut or of her husband. (The frank tension between Mary and her husband is an interesting sidelight to the main story of the diary.)