US Civil War life?

September 12, 2009 4:48 AM

Books on everyday civilian life during the US Civil War?

I've just finished reading The State of Jones, by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer, and The Widow of the South, by Robert Hicks.

These have prompted an interest in the day to day life of people during the US Civil War and the years of reconstruction which followed.

Are there any suggestions for other books on this subject which I might like? The two I've mentioned are historical novels, as opposed to pure non-fiction.

posted by imjustsaying to society & culture (8 comments total)

Sorry are you looking for novels or non fiction? If novels Andersonville springs to mind. If nonfiction, perhaps This Republic of Suffering.
posted by chickaboo at 5:06 AM on September 12

Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain -- won the National Book Award.
posted by profwhat at 5:43 AM on September 12

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles. One of the best books I've read in the past 10 years.
posted by jschu at 6:24 AM on September 12

The American Civil War: Diaries, Letters, and Memoirs. A lot of them are by soldiers, but some aren't.

The classic civilian account is Mary Chesnut's A Diary from Dixie.
posted by languagehat at 6:24 AM on September 12 [1 favorite]

I asked a similar question a while back, you may find the responses helpful!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:29 AM on September 12 [1 favorite]

Sara Morgan. A civil war diary of a southern woman.
posted by Raybun at 12:46 PM on September 12

The classic civilian account is Mary Chesnut's A Diary from Dixie.

That's the classic Confederate account. The classic Union account is Diary of a Union Lady by Maria Lydig Daly. I recommend reading them both for contrast.

A book that came out recently that I cannot recommend enough is Now the Drum of War, about Walt Whitman and his family during the Civil War. It's a fantastically well-researched book that includes long selections from the frequent letters the Whitman men (Walt, a government clerk/volunteer nurse in Washington, his brother who was a colonel in the Union Army, and another brother who was a civil engineer in Albany and elsewhere) exchanged with their mother.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:05 PM on September 12

Everyone beat me to it: Mary Chestnut's diaries. Gone with the REAL Wind. Amazing stuff.
posted by nax at 4:54 PM on September 12