SHORTLY AFTER SHE BEGAN her diary; Emilie Riley McKinley penned an entry to record the day she believed to be the saddest of her life. The date was July 4; 1863; and Federal troops had captured the city of Vicksburg; Mississippi. A teacher on a plantation near the city under siege; McKinley shared with others in her rural community an unwavering allegiance to the Confederate cause. What she did not share with her. Southern neighbors was her background: Emilie McKinley was a Yankee. McKinley's account; revealed through evocative diary entries; tells of a Northern woman who embodied sympathy for the Confederates. During the months that Federal troops occupied her hometown and county; she vented her feelings and opinions on the pages of her journal and articulated her support of the Confederate cause. Through sharply drawn vignettes; McKinley - never one to temper her beliefs - candidly depicted her confrontations with the men in blue along with observations of explosive interactions between soldiers and civilians. Maintaining a tone of wit and gaiety even as she encountered human pathos; she commented on major military events and reported on daily plantation life. An eyewitness accou
#631665 in Books 1997-07Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 10.00 x 7.00 x 2.00l; #File Name: 1567310168776 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. My favorite history; enormously detailedBy Noorali HabibNow I have all volumes from The Renaissance on. My favorite history; enormously detailed. Political history is interwoven with culture. Literature and Philosophy too. Old fashioned goodness.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. What is art? What is civilization?By Al SinghThis is my least favorite book in the Story of Civilization series; but it is still a five star book. Most histories of the Renaissance tend to focus on art and artists; so does this one; which slows down the narrative considerably; but there are also fascinating accounts of princes and popes that liven up the story. The question must be asked: does great art make a civilization great; or does it lead to its decline and downfall? Other nations that have not flourished so brilliantly in the arts have been more politically; economically; and militarily successful. And is it true; as Durant asserts; that "money is the root of civilization"? This is a stimulating and provocative book; despite its preoccupation with visual art; and much more accessible to the layman than most other works on the subject. A work of art in itself.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Historians and armchair historians; read 'em and enjoyBy G KossowSuper writing; little invention; and the best kind of history book in a great series written together with author's one wife. Score one for Mrs. Gipper too. Read it and read the books which came before this one and those after.
