The War the Women Lived

In The War the Women Lived, Walter Sullivan presents an informal history of the American Civil War in the South as seen through the eyes of the 23 principals whose acutely perceptive reports he has chosen for this book. "Through their memorable voices," George Garrett has written, comes "a vivid and fascinating view ... of those terrible times." The editor has selected 31 narrative sequences that unfold in chronological order. Each selection constitutes a story -- of suffering, courage, daring, patriotism, resignation, faith; and the stories add up to an account of the war as it was lived and endured on the domestic front in the South, from its halcyon and hopeful beginnings in 1861 until its devastating conclusion in 1865. The action, however, is by no means confined to home and hearth: it also includes scenes occurring on the battlefield and on shipboard; in churches, hospitals, and prisons; and elsewhere. We begin in the salad days of the Old South with its life of elegance and leisure being celebrated; we end with the South in ruins, its economy shattered and its surviving people -- black and white, male and female -- wounded and beggared. - Jacket flap.