Americans wrote fiercely during the Civil War. War surprised, devastated, and opened up imagination, taking hold of Americans’ words as well as their homes and families. The personal diary—wildly ragged yet rooted in day following day—was one place Americans wrote their war. Diaries, then, have become one of the best-known, most-used sources for exploring the life of the mind in a war-torn place and time. Delving into several familiar wartime diaries kept by women of the southern slave-owning class, Steven Stowe recaptures their motivations to keep the days close even as war tore apart the brutal system of slavery that had benefited them. Whether the diarists recorded thoughts about themselves, their opinions about men, or their observations about slavery, race, and warfare, Stowe shows how these women, by writing the immediate moment, found meaning in a changing world.
In studying the inner lives of these unsympathetic characters, Stowe also explores the importance—and the limits—of historical empathy as a condition for knowing the past, demonstrating how these plain, first-draft texts can offer new ways to make sense of the world in which these Confederate women lived.
- 228 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface: Words of War
- Acknowledgments
- Cast of Characters: The Diarists
- Chapter One: Reading the Diary
- Chapter Two: Keeping the Diary
- Chapter Three: Wartime
- Chapter Four: Men
- Chapter Five: Slaves
- Chapter Six: Herself
- Appendix: A Guide to the Diaries and Diarists
- A Note on Reading
- Notes
- Index
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Yes, you can access Keep the Days by Steven M. Stowe in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & American Civil War History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.