The Private Mary Chesnut

"Now all those interested in American history can fully recapture one of the most illuminating figures in our past...[A]n indispensable, expertly edited volume."--William W. Freehling, The Johns Hopkins University "This highly personal record has more historical substance than can be found in many textbooks."--Henry Nash Smith "Woodward and Muhlenfeld present a meticulously edited volume....The result is an extremely clean and easily readable text."--Journal of Southern History "The wealth of experience that [Woodward and Muhlenfeld] brought to this formidable task has predictably resulted in a first-rate contribution to Civil War literature."--Louisiana History "Chesnut's diaries have genuine intrinsic value as a source of information about the wartime South. Furthermore...they mirror her very soul!"--The Centennial Review "[Chesnut] was a witty, intelligent woman....She combined devotion to the Confederate cause with an utter detestation of slavery....What survives of a much longer original text is presented in this well-annotated edition."--The Atlantic "At long last scholars have the Chesnut diaries as they were originally written, an indispensable adjunct to Woodward's magnificent edition of her expanded journal....The exhaustive editing and insightful preface make this book essential for specialists."--Library Journal "Her surviving original diaries, more personal, intimate and spontaneous...are essential to an appreciation of the most famous Southern literary insight on the Civil War experience."--Journal of American History