Voices of Civil War America: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life

Lawrence A. Kreiser Jr. · Ray B. Browne

Sep 2011 · ABC-CLIO

About this ebook

Letting ordinary people speak for themselves, this book uses primary documents to highlight daily life among Americans—Union and Confederate, black and white, soldier and civilian—during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Focusing on routines as basic as going to school and cooking and cleaning, Voices of Civil War America: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life explores the lives of ordinary Americans during one of the nation's most tumultuous eras. The book emphasizes the ordinary rather than the momentous to help students achieve a true understanding of mid-19th-century American culture and society.

Recognizing that there is no better way to learn history than to allow those who lived it to speak for themselves, the authors utilize primary documents to depict various aspects of daily life, including politics, the military, economics, domestic life, material culture, religion, intellectual life, and leisure. Each of the documents is augmented by an introduction and aftermath, as well as lists of topics to consider and questions to ask.

Original materials from a wide range of sources, including letters, diaries, newspaper editorials, journal articles, and book chapters

Detailed background for each of the 48 featured documents, placing the experiences and opinions of the authors into historical context

About the author

Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr. is associate professor of history at Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, AL.

Ray B. Browne, prior to his death in 2009, was professor emeritus in the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH.