Sarah Morgan - by Charles East (Paperback)

About the Book

Now available for the first time in its complete form, this diary of a real-life Scarlett O'Hara gives us a rare, fascinating look at life in the war-torn Confederacy. "Should rank alongside Mary Chestnut's famous wartime journal as one of the most important personal records of the Civil War. Highly recommended".--Library Journal. Photos, family tree, map, index.

Book Synopsis

Born into one of the best families of Baton Rouge, Sarah Morgan was not yet twenty when she began her diary in January 1862, nine months after the start of the Civil War. She was soon to experience a coming-of-age filled with the turmoil and upheaval that devastated the wartime South. She set down the Remarkable events of the war in a record that remains one of the most vivid, evocative portrayals in existence of a time and place that today make up a crucial chapter in our national history.
Sarah Morgan herself emerges as one of the most memorable nineteenth-century women in fiction or nonfiction, a young woman of intelligence and fortitude, as well as of high spirits and passion, who questioned the society into which she was born and the meaning of the war for ordinary families like her own and for the divided nation as a whole.
Now published in its entirety for the first time, Sarah Morgan's classic account brings the Civil War and the Old South to life with all the freshness and immediacy of great literature.

Review Quotes

Christian Science Monitor Sarah Morgon's diary is not only a valuable historical document. It is also a fascinating story of people, places, and events -- told by a wonderfully talented writer.

Huntsville Times You don't have to be a Civil war buff to enjoy Sarah's story. It's a fascinating tale of life in an extraordinary time and place....By the time the reader reaches the final pages it's tough to leave.

Lexington Herald-Leader Stands virtually alone in bringing the Confederate homefront to life...Irresistible.

Library Journal Morgan's diary should rank alongside Mary Chesnut's famous wartime journal as one of the most important personal records of the Civil War. Highly recommended.

Richmond News Leader Sarah Morgan's diary will henceforth be linked in value with the diary of Mary B. Chesnut....Miss Morgan's personal feelings and intimate thoughts eclipse even [Chesnut's]....Always, throughout this work, are the inner thoughts, dreams, and conflicts with reality that daily consumed a young lady who, in so many respects, was above the intellect of her times....It is deserving of all the praise, and of all the use, that it will receive.

The Charleston Post and Courier Adds immeasurably to an accurate portrait of life on the Confederate homefront....Intelligent, sensitive, and well educated, [Sarah Morgan] could put into words what her eyes saw and her heart felt....An extraordinary account of how one family responded to the war and suffered the consequences of its decision.

The Greenwood, S.C., Index-Journal Refreshing....A real-life Scarlett O'Hara.

The Orlando Sentinel A remarkable diary....As she writes of her hopes, fears, and sadness, Sarah Morgan emerges as an extraordinary person forced to grow up fast in the crucible of the Civil War.

Drew Gilpin Faust Annenberg Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania The diary of Sarah Morgan, at last available in its complete form, is both a delightful read and an invaluable source for southern, women's, and Civil War history.

Ken Burns Remarkable...Morgan reminds us that the best history is heartfelt and heart-shared. Sarah Morgan will rightfully take its place next to Mary Chesnut's Diary as a thoroughly authentic voice of the war.

About the Author

Charles East is a former editor at the University of Georgia Press and former director of the Louisiana State University Press. He is the author of several books and is the series editor for the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction.