Customer Reviews:
Stone versus Chesnut.......2007-02-07
Like Mary Boykin Chesnut, Kate Stone wrote her diary during the Civil War. They were both members of the slaveholding planter class and at the start of the war both were surrounded by servants who met their every need. But twenty year old Kate Stone's life would be more directly affected by the war. Her young uncles and brothers went to join up at the onset and before the war ended several were dead of injuries or disease. Kate Stone's Louisiana home was occupied by the Yankees forcing the family to flee to Texas. Both describe the deprivations of the war years, lack of shoe leather, lack of cloth and the unavailability of new books, and both were at times cheered by false reports of great southern victories. The two diaries complement each other.
An Extraordinary Lady in Extraordinary Times.......2001-03-26
Kate Stone is one of my favorite Civil War diarists. She is an admixture of a great privilege, passionate beliefs, lover of literature, keen social observations and amazing fortitude. Her Civil War was dangerous, turbulent and life changing.
Brokenburn was a large plantation containing over 150 slaves in Madison Parish, LA. From 1862 on, it was in the center of the Union Army's fierce assault to gain control of the Mississippi River and divide the Confederacy in half. Plantations were commandeered and slaves were encouraged to revolt. The civilian population was helpless before the demands of military control. Madison Parish had a population of approximately 9,000 of whom 7,000 were slaves. After 1861, the Parish was emptied of able-bodied white men, most of whom had been sent to far-off Virginia and Tennessee, leaving none to protect the civilians.
In 1861, Kate was 20 years old, her immediate future being beaus, courtship, and a gay social life before she settled down to become a proper southern matron. She was unsure whether this route was ideal, as she remarked, "women grew significantly uglier in wedlock and ignored and abandoned their former female friends." This comfortable world was turned upside down, never to reappear again. With great enthusiasm and some trepidation, she watched her three older brothers go off to war. Her widowed mother made it clear that 14-year-old James was now in charge of the running of the plantation and the protection of the rest of the family. I was amazed at the serene assumption that a young teenager was thrust in this role, but it seems that was the custom of the times. If you had to grow up fast, you did. Yellow fever was a constant in the area, and longevity was not a norm. Both Generals Grant and Lee wanted their troops out of these areas during "the seasons of pestilence." This was not to be, and both armies suffered devastating losses to disease. Kate treated the "fever season" as a fact of life, and planned around it with remarkable briskness.
By 1862, the Stone family was desperate. The Federal leadership demanded that they stay on their property; yet there were serious slave insurrections that threatened the lives of the plantation holders. Those slaves who were not hostile were running off, and there was no labor to farm the crops. Many southerners could not believe that their "loyal" slaves would run away. Kate was not among them, saying, "If I were in their place, I'd do the same." She was by no means sympathetic, just practical.
The family finally escaped through the bayous in a rickety canoe with nothing, not even underwear, and finally made it across the border into Texas. They were refugees along with many other prominent Louisiana families. Kate was convinced they had arrived at "a dark corner of the Confederacy." Upon noting the barefoot but hoop skirted frontier ladies, she sniffed "there must be something in the air of Texas fatal to beauty."
Kate agonized over the increasingly bad war news and was devastated by Lee's surrender. Kate is one of the most vivid, perceptive diarists of the Civil War. Her diary is one of social history, a time of calamitous change and invaluable for understanding this crucial time in American history. Kate is a natural writer and observer. A highly enjoyable read.
Book Description
An excellent firsthand account of the Civil War from a soldier's point of view. It is a masterful description of war's grim reality.--VFW Magazine
Customer Reviews:
Soldiering.......2007-03-04
This books provides us with the knowledge of day to day survival in the union army. He, Rice C. Bull, was severely wounded and captured by the Confederate Army. He describes the conditions surrounding him while he lay unable to move. It's not a pretty picture and many died that could have been saved. He seems to have been a gentleman of high moral standing. There didn't seem to be any bitterness or hate in him. He was simply doing what he felt to be his duty to the best of his ability.
It's in reading these diaries that contain little parts of the war that we can piece together a more accurate complete picture. Read it and find out what was thought of the food and how marching became a way of like.
The privates tale gives a valuable insight to life during the Civil War.
A great adventure written by a first rate story teller........2001-05-22
For those readers who are interested in a good first account of life as a Yankee soldier during the American Civil War, this is the book. I found the account written by Elijah Hunt Rhodes to be quite bland. Full of patriotic sentiment that sheds little light on his vulnerability. Rhodes' may have been a great soldier but he is an amateur storyteller. Rice Bull on the other hand, is a natural born writer. I found this book hard to put down. The pictures Bull paints are startling, amazing, hilarious and terrifying. This book's depiction of war lives in an entirely different universe than, John Wayne, Turner Classics, or any of the tedious accounts written by the Civil War Generals attempting to clear their name. Full of fantastic insight and ironies this book is right up there with "Catch 22" and "Journey to the End of the Night".
Soldiering : The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull.......2001-02-03
This is an excellent book to get an understanding in the daily life of a Northern soldier. The R.C. Bull's journal is an "easy" read and allows the reader to grasp what it was like to be in the infantry during the Civil War. R.C. Bull writes about the types of rations they were issued, their living conditions, and the marches they had to endure. He writes about trading goods with the Confederate "rebs" and his treatment as wounded prisoner. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the life of an enlist man during the Civil War.
Very Good Account of the Civil War.......1998-11-13
After reading three diaries (Diary of Daniel Chisholm, Three Years in Co. K, and this book) I place this one at the top (for now.) The description of Bull's experience following Chancellorsville, wounded in the hip and face, lying in the mud, while men are dying all around him, is particularly moving. I'm a novice Civil War buff, and would recommend this title to someone who has more than a passing interest in the daily life of a Northern soldier.
Book Description
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian C. Vann Woodward and Chesnut's biographer Elisabeth Muhlenfeld present here the previously unpublished Civil War diaries of Mary Boykin Chesnut. The ideal diarist, Mary Chesnut was at the right place at the right time with the right connections. Daughter of one senator from South Carolina and wife of another, she had kin and friends all over the Confederacy and knew intimately its political and military leaders. At Montgomery when the new nation was founded, at Charleston when the war started, and at Richmond during many crises, she traveled extensively during the war. She watched a world "literally kicked to pieces" and left the most vivid account we have of the death throes of a society. The diaries, filled with personal revelations and indiscretions, are indispensable to an appreciation of our most famous Southern literary insight into the Civil War experience.
Customer Reviews:
5 stars as source for papers, 3 stars as a reading experi.......2003-07-05
I've recently developed an interest in Civil War history, an era that had not heretofore intrigued me. In doing some reading on the subject, I kept coming across references to "the diaries of Mary Chesnut," and decided to read them. Most historians look upon these diaries as a major source of information on what took place in the South during the Civil War, because the lady was present at some of the important events and was certainly herself effected by them. As the editors write, she was often reduced to moving "eventually from one place of refuge to another as a fugitive from military invaders (p. x)" and "Living out of her trunk in hotels or rented rooms (p. x)." The quotations or information gleaned from this resource do indeed illuminate the narration in the historical works in which one comes across them. They are not, however, easy to read.
I gather from the introduction to this book that the diaries had been edited for publication as a continuous narrative--minus the more embarrassing self-revelations--entitled by a hand other than the lady's a "Diary from Dixie." The author herself had died long before the book was ever printed, leaving the details of publication to a relative. The editors of the current text despair the latter work as "heavily cut and carelessly edited (p. ix)," because it prevents the reader from knowing well the lady as a character herself.
The Private Mary Chesnut is just what the Diary from Dixie is not, a real diary. As such, it contains entries that are for the most part endless mentions of people with whom the reader probably will not be knowledgeable unless he or she is very "into" the South and Civil War history. One is frequently reduced to checking the footnotes for information on the individuals named. Unfortunately the editors of the diary give only the barest of facts about them, usually social or military rank or relationship to Mrs. Chesnut or another individual mentioned in the diary. The writer's comments often leave one trying to read between her lines for some inkling of "what's really going on!" because there is the merest glimpse of some probably very interesting underlying story. The editors of the text, however, either will not or cannot give these details. Because of this dearth of underlying social information, the book comes across as either confusing or a little boring, a simple catalogue of parties and people met at parties, of polite social visits paid back and forth. This is definitely not an Edith Warton!
Spaced throughout the document are nuggets of truly golden information about the Civil War and antebellum period. [THOSE WRITING PAPERS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE OR HISTORY TAKE NOTE] Because the lady was well connected by virtue of her own social status and oft sought company, she is privileged to the opinions of and gossip about significant individuals. She knew people who had met or knew the Lincoln family and was herself intimately acquainted with the Jefferson Davis family. One of the more interesting quotes was gossip associated with Mary Todd Lincoln's notorious household economy in the White House (pp. 30 and 31-32). This gives a much truer picture of what the social elite thought of the Lincolns, particularly in the South, and makes clear, that Washington D. C. was--and probably still is--more part of the southern social milieu than that of northern or national.
Certainly the lady herself comes across quite real in these diaries. In short she is often vain, opinionated, over-indulged, and wasteful by modern standards--at least by middle class standards--but she is also a well educated, astute and outspoken judge of political events and of the social ills of the institution of slavery. [THOSE WRITING PAPERS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE OR HISTORY TAKE NOTE] Her discourse on its ills, particularly of misogynation, are eminently quotabl--and often are. My favorite is that beginning with "I wonder if it be a sin to think slavery a curse on any land (p. 42-43)," etc.
While the book is difficult to get through, for those with a desire to know more than just the bare facts about the Civil War period and its society, this book is probably a good source for that information. [THOSE WRITING PAPERS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE OR HISTORY TAKE NOTE] This would definitely be considered a primary rather than a secondary source for the topic.
America's Own Pepys.......2000-05-02
This is the one indispensible book for anyone interested in what went on in the South behind the battle lines. As Pepys gives us a living picture of the London and court of Charles II, so does M. Chesnut give us a bird's eye view of the Confederate government and the society she lived in.
A wise and witty woman, Mary Chesnut spent most of the war years close to ground zero in Richmond, VA. She knew Jefferson and Varina Davis intimately. She rubbed elbows with congressmen and cabinet members. Mrs. Chesnut was a sharp tongued woman who pulled no punches and she tells us much that, but for her, would remain unknown about the leaders of the "Lost Cause".
Anyone who enjoyed the Woodward/Muhlenfeld editon of Mary Chesnut's memoirs can't afford to miss this publication of the materials from which she created her masterpiece.
Book Description
The Civil War era was a time of great tragedy and triumph, and for a diverse group of women it was a distinctive thread in their lives and their quilting. Quilters and historians alike will appreciate the timeless lessons shared through actual diary entries and 121 related quilt blocks featured in The Civil War Diary Quilt, from Rosemary Youngs, author of the innovative book, The Amish Circle Quilt.
This reference incorporates instructions, list of supplies, a photo gallery, and 121 quilt blocks inspired by actual diary entries from 10 women living during the Civil War. Readers meet a variety of women including Mary Austin Wallace through her stories about running a 160-acre farm in Michigan, while her husband is away at war; 17-year-old Emma Florence LeConte as she recounts the day the Union army set a path of destruction through Columbia, SC; and Rachel Young King Anderson who moved away from Tennessee with her husband and children to start a new life. In addition to the 121 blocks that make a full quilt, this must-have reference includes smaller projects that use the same blocks.
-Actual diary entries of 10 women living during the Civil War create a unique historical reference
-Includes 121 full-size quilt block patterns that can also be used to make smaller additional projects
Customer Reviews:
Civil War Diary Quilt.......2007-08-17
This is a lovely book but not as good as i thought it would be. I have wanted it for over one year and now that I have it, realise I could live without it. The illustrations and overall appeal ie. colour, setout and feel are lacking. Not a really appealing book in my opinion. Overall it is a lack-lustre offering. Some good facts re: real life stories from the Civil War however.
NIce book.......2007-08-11
This is a great thick book of blocks that coincide with letters from the Civil War period. A group of us made quilts from this book. ITs a keeper.
History in the making.......2007-07-12
I really enjoyed the stories, just wish that there were more. Good book for quilter's who like to take patterns and recreate them in EQ6 or other software to print out hard copy patterns. You could trace and draw out patterns in the book and do English paper-piecing too.
Civil War History and 6" Quilt Blocks.......2007-07-03
This is an interesting quilt book and history book rolled into one. The blocks pictured are 6 inches square, with a CD of patterns available from the author to help you print or resize them. The diary stories reveal much about the day-to-day life of a diverse group of Civil-War era women. Becoming involved in Rosemary Youngs Yahoo group has added much to my enjoyment of the history portion, and helped me with the actual piecing of the quilt. Her previous book is Amish Circle, and her follow-up book (just published) is Love Letters. I own them all!The Amish Circle Quilt: 121 Quilt Block Patterns That Tell A StoryThe Civil War Love Letter Quilt
Civil War Diaries.......2007-06-02
If you enjoy history and quilts, this is an excellant book to combine both. Interesting reading and I'm anxious to start the quilt blocks. Pictures of the quilt blocks are very clear but do need to know the basics of quiltmaking to make the blocks as there are no instructions with the blocks.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating.......2007-05-15
Reading this book while visiting a friend in Azerbaijan, I could not put it down. The incredible history of this small country and the current issues both told in a very entertaining narrative that can't be found anywhere else.
A solid historic book.......2006-05-05
This is one of the rare historic books reflecting the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict from both sides. It is reach in historic and political facts, and also reflects the author's own eyewitness of the war.
Also in this book, Mr. Goltz makes it clear in the book his unfriendly relations with Azerbaijani government, and criticizes the structure of the gorevnment, and it's adiministration which lead to series of strategic mistakes.
A must read on Azerbaijan.......2006-02-15
Thomas Goltz's book on Azerbaijan is unique, for many reasons. First, he was among the few western journalists to be and actually live in the Caucasus when hell broke loose in the conflicts of the region. Secondly, He speaks the language, bringing him across cultural barriers that even Russian-speakers encounter though they seldom know they do in the non-Russian partso the former USSR. Third, Goltz has a smell for the events of the country and understands the backdoor politics.
In the final analysis, no serious book on Azerbaijan has been written since Goltz published Azerbaijan Diary. This is sad, since his book mainly covers the transition from communism over the brief popular front period into the Aliyev era - and a lot has happened since.
Historians may come around to write books on this period. But no book is likely to be published on this era that physically makes you feel you were there both, when the Popular Front took over power in parliament; or when rockets came crushing down on Azeri positions in Karabakh.
Great book on caucasus region .......2006-01-21
This a a great source of informaiton for those who are interested to learn more about Azzerbaijan and it's relations with the neighbouring countries.
Strongly recommended!.......2006-01-21
It's a great book about Azerbaijan and it's history. Very comprehencive review, great illustrations. Definitely recommended.
Book Description
When Zlata's Diary was first published at the height of the Bosnian conflict, it became an international bestseller and was compared to The Diary of Anne Frank, both for the freshness of its voice and the grimness of the world it describes. It begins as the day-today record of the life of a typical eleven-year-old girl, preoccupied by piano lessons and birthday parties. But as war engulfs Sarajevo, Zlata Filipovi´c becomes a witness to food shortages and the deaths of friends and learns to wait out bombardments in a neighbor's cellar. Yet throughout she remains courageous and observant. The result is a book that has the power to move and instruct readers a world away.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book .......2007-05-25
Sheesh...this is the product of a child, not the work of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist. It is an excellent diary, an excellent primary source and an excellent text for a better understanding of the Yugoslav wars. Yes...it does only tell one point of view - hers - it is her diary! Some readers are offended because of the comparison to Anne Frank; a comparison that Filipovic and others make in the book. The comparison is totally fair. Both are intelligent children caught up in situations they have no control over during wars of ethnic cleansing and extermination. It is a testament to Zlata that she can make the connection to Anne Frank...obviously the rest of the world couldn't. They (We) abandoned the Jews sixty years ago and abandoned hundreds of thousands of Croats/Bosniaks/Serbs to genocide forty years later. Zlata remembered Anne Frank's words...the world didn't.
Good read.......2007-05-07
I remember reading this book as a child and picked it up again as an adult. It was a quick read, but really showed how a child deals with war. It made me think of how children in Iraq are feeling right now. Very interesting.
It's a diary, not a book........2007-05-04
To the reader who wrote comment "we all had our delusional moments when we were teenagers"...you should be ashamed of yourself. This "delusional moment" was war and struggle for survival in besieged city of Sarajevo.
Why don't you try and write a book, and/or diary, sitting in a basement without food, water and electricity for four years. All that while granates and bombs are raining on your city. In the meantime, one by one, all of your neighbors and friends are gone six feet under...
How about that for delusional moment...
Zlata's Diary.......2007-04-20
Zlata's Diary is about a young girl's diary named Mimi during the war in her town of Sarajeavo. She writes of the hardships of being a war child. She tells of the changes of her world during the war such as her parents may have grown older one year but looked ten years older. She is constantly hearing of people being shot and wounded. And how might I know this? She was asked if she had a diary. And guess what she did and it was sent to be published. I think this book was over all pretty well written. I would recomend this book to you if you liked the book The Diary Of Anne Frank. So to find out what happens pick up Zlata's Diary.
-Christine Lanier
Zlata's Review.......2007-04-18
Taylor (Lanier Middle School)
Zlata's Dairy is the real life issue of how an eleven year old girl struggles to stay alive during a civil war in Sarajevo, (1991-93) but more importantly trying to cope with the pain friends and family leaving to escape the war. During the whole process she decides to keep a diary which then later becomes published in the years 1992 and 1993.
This book tells a story of family, friendship, and most of all courage. Though a war might be going on, Zlata Filipovic still manages to go to school. Zlata lives in an average sized apartment with her mother and father.
The life lesson in this book is that no matter how hard things get you will always have your family there with you. And that thing's in life will get though, but eventually they will get better. Also never dwell on the bad things, but the good.
I personally do not like this book. The fact that this is a diary is one of the reasons I don't like this book, it skips around and does not tell you everything that happens.It also repeats everything, so all you are reading is what you read before.I would recamend this book to all, even though I did not like it, does'n mean you don't.
Book Description
homas Goltz is one of the founders of the exclusive journalistic cadre of compulsive, danger-addicted voyeurs who court death to get the story. In a first-person narrative that reads like an adventure, he explores the war in Chechnya, and focuses on the Samashki Massacre, the symbol of Russian brutality employed to crush Chechen resistance. Goltz relates the saga of this small town (sort of a Grover's Corners of the Caucasus), as it is drawn into war, and the fate of Hussein, the leader of local resistance. Chechnya Diary is a crossover work that will satisfy both armchair travelers as well as political scientists, historians, and policy makers.
Customer Reviews:
For the Layman.......2006-02-01
This is the true story about the struggle the people of Chechnya are going through - a region I know little about. It is written through the eyes of a war correspondent - an occupation I know little about. Goltz brings some understanding to the layman with a direct, no-nonsense writing style that will capture your attention and send your senses reeling through sorrow, joy, dispair, hope and more. A must read for anyone who wants to gain some knowledge of the on-going struggle of Chechnya without wading through a dull textbook.
How we really feel.......2004-10-29
I'll state straight away that I count myself a an old and loyal friend of Thomas Goltz, and I'm a journalist too, so my five stars should perhaps seen in that context. But I believe they are well deserved, not least for the personal bravery the author displayed in getting the story. For me, this book's particular value is that for once it strips away the shield that we reporters feel necessary to arm ourselves with to protect ourselves from emotional involvement with the subjects of our reportage. This is the first time I read the account of someone who has faced up to naked realities of this situation. The result is a rare and compelling tale of the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewed, and set against a backdrop that shows how both sides behave and above all feel when trapped in forces outside their control.
An improvement .......2004-09-06
This book is a sign Goltz has matured since writing "Requiem" and "AZ Diary", and has found his niche. This is to say, maybe he's realized he isn't much for political synthesis or history. He has obviously done a lot of good and original thinking about journalistic ethics in wartime and the "Hawthorne effect"--these are the reasons you want to read this book.
There are a lot of books, historical and journalistic, in several languages, on Chechnya and this is the least exciting and informative of the ten or so of those I've read.
"Allah's Mountains", "Chechnya--Tombstone of Russian Power" and "Chechnya--A Short, Victorious War" are more interesting and written by less self-obsessed authors.
Excellent portal into a hellish conflict--and more.......2004-02-18
Chechnya Diary isn't your typical book about war. For one thing, it reads more like an adventure or a novel than straight history. It's also much more philosophical than I would have expected. The book begins with the quote, "The observer affects the observed," and boy is that statement ever borne out as the story unfolds.
Author Thomas Goltz sneaks into the country to cover the war, and ends up in a small town called Samashki, where he depends on the hospitality of a man named Hussein. Ostensibly there to record the fighting, Goltz soon becomes intimately involved, raising many tough questions about journalistic ethics and the effects of media war coverage.
The book really picks up steam in the second half, as Goltz returns to Chechnya to discover the damage his participation has caused, and tries to rectify it.
It's a thought-provoking book that provides background on the Chechnyan war but also goes far beyond that to dwell on how our shallow media culture affects our understanding of world events (and beyond that, how media coverage actually determines the course of those events as they play out). Goltz is a likable narrator who doesn't shy away from implicating himself when it comes to the sticky moral questions. He brings to life real Chechnyans in such vivid fashion that you'll remember them every time you hear about Chechnya in the news.
I had tears in my eyes as I finished the book. Highly recommended.
An eye-opening experience.......2004-01-23
Until I read 'Chechnya Diary' I was willing to accept what seemed to be conventional wisdom about the conflict in Chechnya--i.e., just another incidence of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. Mr. Goltz provides another view: i.e., an effort (at least initally) to restore to a displaced people the homeland of which they were deprived by the Stalinst regime. I also found it refreshing to read something by a journalist who is willing to acknowledge that his presence may have an impact on the turn of events. All in all, I think this is a most enlightening book and, like Mr. Goltz's 'Azerbaijan Diary', a terrific adventure story.
Customer Reviews:
A Fascinating Diary.......2004-03-23
This book is a fascinating voyage through one of the great 19th Century Southern political minds; perhaps second only to John C. Calhoun. Alexander H. Stephens was a strange little man, never weighing more than 100 pounds, and standing only 5' 7" tall; but "Little Aleck" had the heart of a lion. He was possessed of a small head with protruding ears and piercing black eyes. Trained as a lawyer, with a frail almost boyish figure, he never married and was totally devoted to his half-brother, Linton, who served in the Georgia Legislature, on the Georgia Supreme Court and as a Confederate officer, and whose family Alexander Stephens adopted as his own.
This diary covers Stephens experiences as a prisoner after the War Between the States had ended. The War basically ended in April, 1865, but Stephens who had served as the Vice President of the Confederacy, had already gone home to Crawfordville, Georgia, his home town. On May 11, 1865, Tim, one of his servants, came running into the parlor saying: "Master! Yankees have come! a whole heap are in town, galloping all about with guns." Thus Stephens, who unlike other Confederate cabinet officials had never attempted to flee to the sanctuary of another country, came to be a prisoner. He was transported to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor and thus begins this diary.
Throughout the diary, Stephens was indignant that he was even a prisoner, for in his mind (he was probably right) he had done nothing wrong. He had always acted according to the principles of the United States Constitution to which he was totally devoted. He had served 16 years in Congress and had retired in 1859, and when the War started in 1861 he was called upon to serve the Confederacy. As he repeatedly points out the States created the Federal Government, not the other way around. The Federal Government's rights were limited. He had served as a Whig in Congress in the beginning of his career and served with Lincoln who also served as a Whig in the 30th Congress in 1847, when Lincoln served his only term in Congress before becoming president in 1861. Stephens felt he knew Lincoln well and this may be one of the reasons he was elected vice president of the Confederacy, in addition to the fact that he cautioned against secession and for this reason it was felt perhaps he may have had gained some influence with Lincoln.
In any case, the diary covers everything about his life at Fort Warren, where after an initial period of discomfort and apprehension (there was the possibility he may be hanged), he was treated rather kindly by his captors. Stephens read and discusses such books as the Bible, Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, Swedenborg's Doctrine Concerning the Lord, Cicero on Duties, Cicero on Oratory, Aristotle on Economics, Aristotle on Politics, and so forth demonstrating that he was a true intellectual. He discusses the food he ate, his living conditions, and people he met and dealt with such as his guards, other prisoners, and even the little girl who was the daughter of one of his wardens who would bring him flowers and thrust her little hand through the bars to put them in a little flower pot in his cell. Stephens only spent four months and nineteen days in prison. His treatment was much less harsh than that of Jefferson Davis who served two years at Fort Monroe. In the end, like Jefferson Davis and others, he was released and not prosecuted for any offenses. It has been said this was because in truth they had committed no offenses and acted against the Federal Government in much the same way the leaders of the 13 Colonies had acted against the Crown when the 13 Colonies sought their independence from England and thus could not have been convicted of anything.
All in all, a wonderful diary; I have not enjoyed reading a diary as much since I read James Boswell's London Journal 40 years ago.
Fort Warren's last prisoner.......2002-11-19
This is a reprint of the original diary kept by Stephens while at the fort. It is the only book still in print that was written at Fort Warren. If you had a Confederate relative imprisoned at Fort Warren, this gives a terrific insight to the daily routine at the famous bastille.
Customer Reviews:
An engrossing eyewitness account of the Civil War..........2007-06-09
John B. Jones (1810-1866) was a proslavery Northerner who moved South when the Civil War began. A native of Baltimore, he spent most of his youth and young adulthood on the frontier in Kentucky and Missouri. He eventually made his way back to Baltimore and began a career as a newspaper editor. In the 1850's he lived in New Jersey, where he published and edited the "Southern Monitor", a proslavery newspaper which examined the growing crisis between the North and South from a "Southern Viewpoint". When Abraham Lincoln (whom Jones detested) was elected President in 1860 and several Southern states seceded soon thereafter, Jones decided to move South and give whatever support he could to the new Confederate government. He took his wife and children with him, and he soon found a job as a high-level clerk in the Confederate War Department in Richmond, Virginia, the Confederacy's capital. In essence, Jones became a top assistant to the Confederate Secretary of War, which put him in an excellent position to view the conflict from both the "High Command" perspective and the view of an ordinary government worker and city dweller. In April 1861 Jones decided to start a daily diary describing the historic events taking place around him. He faithfully kept the diary until April 1865, when Richmond fell to Northern troops and the Confederacy was destroyed. Jones died from a sudden illness in February 1866, but his diary survived and has become a classic of its kind. It is often used as a "primary source" document by Civil War historians who want a first-hand, eyewitness account of what it was like to live and work in the Confederacy's capital city during the war. Jones is a good writer, and his diary includes almost every aspect of life in Richmond during the war, from the grand to the mundane. Great battles (and the rumors that often accompany them) are mentioned, the elation of early Southern victories to the despair of knowing that "the cause" was lost by the spring of 1865, the petty infighting and personal jealousies that tore the Confederate government apart - all of these are described in detail by Jones. He offers insightful accounts of Confederate President Jefferson Davis; the hated General Winder, who ineptly handled military rule in Richmond for most of the war; the long-winded and ineffective Confederate Congress; Stonewall Jackson's dramatic funeral in May 1863; and the flight of the Confederate government from Richmond and the burning and looting of the city before Northern troops could arrive and restore order. But Jones also includes "smaller" and more personal details about the growing struggle to simply survive in Richmond as the North's naval blockade cut off necessary supplies of food, medicine, clothing, etc. Rampant inflation, food rationing, overcrowding, starving mobs of women marching through the city demanding food, and a thriving black market are all described by Jones (often in biting and sarcastic detail). To be sure, some things written in this book are offensive (or should be) to modern eyes. Jones is a contradiction - in his diary he emerges as a devoted father and husband who worries about his family's safety and fortunes. Yet he is also an unabashed racist who loathes Jews (and often blames them for everything from food shortages to financial issues, with no evidence to support him), and he supports slavery as the "best method" of dealing with blacks. He claims that slaves are generally well-treated and even boasts that the slaves would prefer their condition to being freed and "left on their own, with no support" by Northern abolitionists. Yet at the end of the diary, as Richmond lies in ruins and the war is lost, Jones seems less bitter than simply exhausted and glad that his family has survived. "A Rebel War Clerk's Diary" is still one of the best first-hand accounts of what it was like to live and work in the Confederacy's national capital by a government "insider", and it should be read by every Civil War buff. Recommended!
Average customer rating:
- Cold War Casualty
- Detailed study of an important but unknown court-martial.
|
Cold War Casualty: The Court-Martial of Major General Robert W. Grow
George F. Hofmann
Manufacturer: Kent State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0873384628 |
Customer Reviews:
Cold War Casualty.......2002-11-20
One of the best books I have read on the military court-martial process during the MaCarthy/Cold War era. Very revealing, especially regarding unlawful command influence.
Detailed study of an important but unknown court-martial........1998-07-29
Everybody knows about Gen. George Patton and his Third Army, but few people have heard of Gen. Robert Grow and his 6th Armored Division. Grow's 6th AD was one of the units that was responsible the success and fame of the Third Army.
You might expect General Grow to return from World War II and enjoy accolades and well-deserved retirement. Instead, he was court-martialed and railroaded in the 50's, and at least one of his persecutors was a fellow general with whom he had a conflict during the Battle of the Bulge.
Author Dr. Hofmann has produced a meticulous study of the case and the events leading up to it, and provides a disturbing look at Pentagon rivalries and politics.
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