Mary Chesnut's Diary

One of the most compelling personal narratives of the Civil War, "Mary Chesnut's Diary" was written between 1861 and 1865. As the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and the wife of an aide to the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, Chesnut was well acquainted with the Confederacy's prominent players and - from the very first shots in Charleston, South Carolina - diligently recorded her impressions of the conflict's most significant moments. One of the most frequently cited memoirs of the war, "Mary Chesnut's Diary" captures the urgency and nuance of the period in an epic rich with commentary on race, status, and power within a nation divided.