A Silence After Trumpets: The Story of Sarah Buchanan Preston [Paperback]

Frances Herman Jackson (Author), Mary McNease Kinard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998

Sarah Buchanan (Buck) Preston was the reigning belle of both her native Columbia and of Richmond, where her father was stationed at various times during the Civil War. As a member of the prestigious Hampton-Preston clan, a first cousin of General and later Governor Wade Hampton, and a friend of Confederate diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut, Buck, along with her sisters, Mamie and Tudie, were at the center of events in both cities, and an account of her life involves persons who were influential in both political and military circles in the Confederate capital, including General John Bell Hood, to whom she was engaged. (An extensive genealogical chart is included.)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Have you ever dreamed about what your ancestors were like and what they did? These ladies have done it for me. A delightful story of a beautiful girl who was the femme fatale of the Confederacy -- Buck Preston....The story catches and holds you to the end, a nice love story about my great grandparents." -- Caroline Hampton Mann

"The reason this book exists is because two dedicated Civil War history buffs, Jackson and Kinard, cared enough to spend time and imagination to craft the story. Attention to detail is outstanding throughout this book." -- The Columbia Star, Columbia, SC

"The story of a reigning belle of Columbia comes to life in this intriguing novel." -- Historic Columbia Foundation, Quarterly Newsletter

"This new book brings to life a true Southern belle." -- Trinity Cathedral Bookstore Update

About the Author

Frances Jackson was born in West Virginia and raised in New York. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College and worked for McGraw-Hill and Charles Scribner's Sons. After marrying a native South Carolinian, she moved to Columbia where she obtained an MA from the University of South Carolina and taught French in the city schools.

A native Alabamian, Mary Kinard is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she met her husband, also a South Carolinian. She was a catalog librarian at Richland County Public Library for many years before retiring in 1990.

The authors have been neighbors and friends since 1968. (Their husbands, children, dogs and cats are also friends.) They are currently docents with the Historic Columbia Foundation. While giving tours of the Hampton-Preston Mansion, they were often asked about Sarah Buchanan (Buck) Preston, and they felt that her story should be told.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Reprint Co (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871525186
• ISBN-13: 978-0871525185
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,786,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfortunate, missed opportunity, March 23, 2007

By 

C. Stephens (Greenwood, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: A Silence After Trumpets: The Story of Sarah Buchanan Preston (Paperback)

I was looking forward to a nice little historical novel that might give insight into, and complete the story of, Buck Preston. What I got was a rather cloying attempt to re-cast Buck as something other than what she appeared to be, and done with a 20th century mindset pretending to be antebellum. The Buck Preston of this novella little resembles the Buck described by Mary Chesnut in her war diary. I wished the authors had stayed with what was known of Buck, good and not so good. It would have been a far more interesting book if they had. It is probably the most insipid thing I have ever read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Trash, July 24, 2011

By 

Big Daddy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Silence After Trumpets: The Story of Sarah Buchanan Preston (Paperback)

This book has very little basis in fact. The last page did mention her children and death, although it failed to go into detail. There has to be more factual data available on "Buck" Preston.

5.0 out of 5 stars Read again and again!, November 12, 2010

By 

Stella Preston Cantey - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Silence After Trumpets: The Story of Sarah Buchanan Preston (Paperback)

A wonderful and informative read about Bucky Preston, her life and the lives of numerous friends and family members living in Columbia, SC and Richmond, Va. during times that tried the souls and lives of all who were witness to the war to end all wars! Filled with historically accurate events that brings one to tears and laughter! The reader will find that they are almost transported back in time, able to reach out and touch these remarkabably strong, determined folks and join them in the southern cities that they once considered golden but as they watched, were turned to ruin.