
Mary Chesnut's Civil War
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Narrated by:
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Suzanne Toren
About this listen
Winner of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize in History
“A feast for Civil War buffs … One of the best firsthand records of the Confederate experience … Electrifying.”—Walter Clemons, Newsweek
“A great epic drama of our greatest national tragedy.”—William Styron, New York Review of Books
The incomparable Civil War diarist Mary Chesnut wrote that she had the luck “always to stumble in on the real show.” Married to a high-ranking member of the Confederate government, she was ideally placed to watch and to record the South’s headlong plunge to ruin, and she left in her journals an unsurpassed account of the old regime’s death throes, its moment of high drama in world history. With intelligence and passion she described the turbulent events of politics and war, as well as the complex society around her. In her own circles, the aristocratic, patriarchal, slave-holding Mary Chesnut was a figure of heresy and of paradox: she had a horror of slavery and called herself an abolitionist from early youth.
Edited by the eminent historian C. Vann Woodward, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War presents a full and reliable edition of Chesnut’s journals, restoring her to her rightful place in American history and literature.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©1981 C. Vann Woodward, Sally Bland Metts, Barbara G. Carpenter, Sally Bland Johnson, and Katherine W. Herbert (P)2025 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
James McPherson shows that, contrary to what many scholars believe, the soldiers of the Civil War remained powerfully convinced of the ideals for which they fought throughout the conflict. Motivated by duty and honor, and often by religious faith, these men wrote frequently of their firm belief in the cause for which they fought: the principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and patriotism. For Cause and Comrades lets these soldiers tell their own stories in their own words to create an account that is both deeply moving and far truer than most books on war.
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Ambitious idea but falls short
- By Matt M on 08-03-20
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A Worse Place than Hell
- How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation
- By: John Matteson
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
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December 1862 drove the United States toward a breaking point. The Battle of Fredericksburg shattered Union forces and Northern confidence. As Abraham Lincoln's government threatened to fracture, this critical moment also tested five extraordinary individuals whose lives reflect the soul of a nation. The changes they underwent led to profound repercussions in the country's law, literature, politics, and popular mythology. Taken together, their stories offer a striking restatement of what it means to be American.
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Fantastic Intertwining!
- By Peter H. Christensen on 09-02-21
By: John Matteson
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The Pillow Book
- By: Sei Shōnagon
- Narrated by: Georgina Sutton
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon is a fascinating, detailed account of Japanese court life in the closing years of the 10th century. Written by a lady of the court at the height of Heian culture, this book enthrals with its lively gossip, witty observations and subtle impressions. Lady Shōnagon was an erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel, The Tale of Genji, fictionalized the elite world Lady Shōnagon so eloquently relates.
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Exquisite. Truly!
- By Erick DuPree on 01-10-23
By: Sei Shōnagon
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The Life of George Peabody
- Containing a Record of Those Princely Acts of Benevolence Which Entitle Him to the Esteem and Gratitude of All
- By: Phebe Ann Hanaford
- Narrated by: W.P. Hooten
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover the inspiring journey of George Peabody, a man whose legacy of philanthropy and kindness has left an indelible mark on both America and England. Authored by Phebe A. Hanaford, this biography delves into the life of a self-made financier who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most benevolent figures of the 19th century. Peabody's story is a testament to the power of perseverance, integrity, and the profound impact of using wealth for the greater good.
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Propaganda Girls
- The Secret War of the Women in the OSS
- By: Lisa Rogak
- Narrated by: Samara Naeymi
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German-American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.
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fascinating
- By Debra Clinton on 04-07-25
By: Lisa Rogak
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The Fires of Vesuvius
- Pompeii Lost and Found
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman Empire. But the eruptions are only part of the story. In The Fires of Vesuvius, acclaimed historian Mary Beard makes sense of the remains. She explores what kind of town it was - more like Calcutta or the Costa del Sol? - and what it can tell us about "ordinary" life there. From sex to politics, food to religion, slavery to literacy, Beard offers us the big picture even as she takes us close enough to the past to smell the bad breath....
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Delightful Description of Life in Ancient Pompeii
- By Emily on 08-27-19
By: Mary Beard
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Emilie Du Chatelet
- Daring Genius of the Enlightenment
- By: Judith P. Zinsser
- Narrated by: Sarah K. Lippmann
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The captivating biography of the French aristocrat who balanced the demands of her society with passionate affairs of the heart and a brilliant life of the mind. Although today she is best known for her fifteen-year liaison with Voltaire, Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise Du Châtelet (1706-1749) was more than a great man's mistress. After marrying a marquis at the age of eighteen, she proceeded to fulfill the prescribed-and delightfully frivolous-role of a French noblewoman of her time.
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A Woman of Valor
- Clara Barton and the Civil War
- By: Stephen B. Oates
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Civil War broke out, Clara Barton wanted more than anything to be a Union soldier, an impossible dream for a 39-year-old woman who stood a slender five feet tall. Determined to serve, she became a veritable soldier, a nurse, and a one-woman relief agency operating in the heart of the conflict. Now, award-winning author Stephen B. Oates, drawing on archival materials not used by her previous biographers, has written the first complete account of Clara Barton's active engagement in the Civil War.
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I enjoyed this immensely……was sad to see it end.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-02-22
By: Stephen B. Oates
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Patriot Presidents
- From George Washington to John Quincy Adams
- By: William E. Leuchtenburg
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The founding fathers of the United States created a unique institution, the presidency, as they were determined to authorize an effective chief executive but wary of monarchy. They endowed this office with broad prerogatives and power but hedged it in with limitations. The presidency that developed over the next generation, however, was fashioned less by the clauses in the Constitution than by the way that the first presidents responded to challenges such as sectional enmity and the vexing Napoleonic warfare that jeopardized maritime rights.
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Union General Daniel Butterfield
- A Civil War Biography
- By: James S. Pula
- Narrated by: Sean Redfield
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan Butterfield played a pivotal role during the Civil War. He led troops in the field at the brigade, division, and corps level, wrote the 1862 Army field manual, composed “Taps,” and served as the chief of staff for Joe Hooker in the Army of the Potomac.
By: James S. Pula
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Love, Queenie
- Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star
- By: Mayukh Sen
- Narrated by: Sharmila Devar
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Merle Oberon made history when she was announced as a nominee for the Best Actress Oscar in 1936. Her nomination marked the first time the Academy recognized a performer of color. Oberon, born to a South Asian mother and white father, broke through a racial barrier—but no one knew it. Oberon was "passing" for white. In the first biography of Oberon in more than forty years, Mayukh Sen draws on family interviews and untapped archival material to capture the life of an oft-forgotten talent.
By: Mayukh Sen
Fascinating look at upper class South
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