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The Private Mary Chesnut by Mary Boykin Chesnut

alexandrahughes's review

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3.0

Is it just me or do we mostly hear about lower class during war? This book gave us a glimpse of what life was like for rich politicians (or at their wives).

This is a diary. It can be rather boring at times because a lot of it reads like this "I had dinner with ____ and __ and ___ and ___. We discussed the secession of this state and then talked about something else." But isn't this what people write in their diaries? I guess I expected to read more about the actual war, but it seemed the war didn't affect her as much as it did others. This is probably because she was wealthy and her husband held some position in the government, so rather than discuss the battles she mostly discusses the politics of war. But it was still interesting to read about the war from this point of view. I think anyone intersted in the Civil War would find this interesting.
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