Confederate Athens - by Kenneth Coleman (Paperback)

About the Book

Coleman's study of Athens, Georgia, during the Civil War focuses on what life was like for the 4,000 people living there. Despite the hardship and deprivation, life went on, heightened by the effects of war. Coleman weaves a broad and illuminating tapestry of a people who met a great challenge while attempting to hold on to their peacetime ways.

Book Synopsis

Kenneth Coleman's study of Athens, Georgia, during the Civil War focuses on what life was like for the 4,000 people living there. Despite the hardship and deprivation, life went on, heightened by the effects of war. Churches and schools remained the core of social life; women's groups continued to meet; parties and concerts added amusement to people's lives. But war did make drastic changes. People lost loved ones, and knew the hardship of living from day to day as prices soared and goods, once necessities, became unobtainable luxuries. Coleman weaves a broad and illuminating tapestry of a people who met a great challenge while managing to hold on to, for as long as possible, their peacetime ways.

Review Quotes

This book on day-to-day life in Confederate Athens gives one a different perspective on the Civil War from the storm-and-stress volumes on war and politics.

--Journal of American History

About the Author

KENNETH COLEMAN (1916-99) was a professor of history at the University of Georgia and the author of numerous books about the state's colonial and revolutionary roots. He coedited The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia. His best-known book, Georgia History in Outline (1955), remains in print and widely read, making it one of UGA Press's most successful releases.