Mary Boykin Chesnut
A Confederate Woman's Life- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 1996
Summary
Born into the plantation gentry of South Carolina, granted the advantages of wealth, social position, and education by virtue of her family and her marriage to another prominent South Carolina family, Mary Chesnut has emerged as one of the key figures in American history, but not because of a career, her family, or her involvement in a humanitarian cause. Rather, Chesnut's significance comes from her extensive diary. Her commentary and reminiscences about the Confederate era provide an excellent window into the life and death of the Confederate nation. Her keen insight into political, economic, and social developments makes her an excellent source to understand the Southern homefront during the Civil War.
Professor DeCredico uses Chesnut's life to address the role of women in the South, the ideology and leadership of the Southern white elite, and how Southern women in general—and Chesnut in particular—viewed the institution of slavery. Furthermore, DeCredico shows how Mary Chesnut's privileged position gave her an ideal perspective for observing and commenting on the events of the Confederacy.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 1996
- ISBN-Print
- 978-0-945612-46-9
- ISBN-Online
- 978-1-4616-3916-9
- Publisher
- Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 177
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- Illustrations No access
- Editor's Foreword No access
- Acknowledgments No access
- Introduction No access
- 1. Southern Daughter: "The World Seemed a Place Where One Could be Very Jolly" No access Pages 3 - 16
- 2. Marriage & Politics: "I Take This Somnolent Life Coolly" No access Pages 17 - 40
- 3. 1860—1861: "Lincoln Was Elected and Our Fate Sealed" No access Pages 41 - 62
- 4. 1862: "We Have No-Breathing Time Given Us" No access Pages 63 - 82
- 5. 1863: "Anxiety Pervades" No access Pages 83 - 98
- 6. 1864: "The Deep Waters Are Closing Over Us" No access Pages 99 - 116
- 7. 1865: "The Grand Smash Has Come" No access Pages 117 - 134
- 8. "Cry Aloud For All That is Past & Gone" No access Pages 135 - 158
- Epilogue: The Diary From Dixie No access Pages 159 - 162
- Suggested Reading No access Pages 163 - 168
- Index No access Pages 169 - 177





