The Children of Pride: Selected Letters of the Family of the Rev. Dr. Charles Colcock Jones from the Years 1860-1868, with the Addition of Se

by Robert Manson Myers

Book Overview

The remarkable Civil War letters of a Georgia plantation family, now available in a compact, illustrated volume for new readers and for all those who so greatly admired the original monumental... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300031300
• ISBN13: 9780300031300
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 671 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A lifelong favorite

Today a friend asked me what had been the best Civil War book I had ever read - not a straight history book - and after the briefest thought I said "Children of Pride." I've spent many years thinking about the War, trying to understand the motivations of Americans at that time, and then how they survived such a horrendously wrenching time. "Children of Pride" does it better than anything I have ever read. I think it is understood that primary sources are the best way to truly understand times as these; this book provides the thoughts of the entire family, all literate and well-spoken people, over the entire period from the 1850s, just living their ante-bellum experience, to the idea of the war on the horizon, entering into it and living it day by day. This is all seen through ordinary every-day experiences, family anecdotes, and discussions of what is occurring. I can't recommend it highly enough for a true understanding of Southern life and views through all these years and well into Reconstruction. As readers said earlier, the abridged versions absolutely do not do any justice to what the book truly is. The whole work is the only way to experience "Children of Pride." It has lived with me since I first read it in the 1970s; I would never let my copy out of my hands, and as said above today I realized it was the single best book about the Civil War that I have ever read.

Unabridged is worth every minute of your time.

Like being able to eavesdrop on history, the letters give a vivid account of life before, during and after the civil war. I became fascinated with this format and time period and have also read Mary Chestnutt, Sarah Morgan, and many others, but am now reading The Children Of Pride for the second time. Someone offered to buy my copy, but there is no way I'll ever part with it. It's worth every penny, and every minute spent finding the complete version!

Read the UNABRIDGED title if you can find it.

I am half way through this 1400 page book and it is hard to put down. The UNABRIDGED edition is a must. It includes an INDEX in the back of Who's Who which lists biographies of the Free and the Slaves. These letters reveal the warm relationships between the whites & blacks in this family, the belief that the South was fighting the second American Revolution to preserve a nation under the Constitution and rule of law, the influence of the Scotch Presbyterian church in evangelizing the Negro population with the gospel, the honorable as well as influential position women held in the home as managers of the household, the difficulty of travel by railroad or horseback, what they ate, wore and how they conducted routine business. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to finishing it. I also recommend "Sarah Morgan's Diary" which is also a firsthand account written in Louisiana by a 19 year old girl. "Sarah Morgan" was much more readable than "Mary Chestnut's Diary" which is probably better known. Sarah Morgan was a gifted writer.

The True History of Georgia during Civil War

Book is composed of actual letters from family members in Georgia during the Prewar, during actual war and after the Civil War.You get an actual account on how life was day to day, with very enjoyable and easy to read wording. Much more accruate history in this book, than is currently being taught in our schools.

This remarkable book is the real-life "Gone with the Wind."

This book shows better than any other the disruptive effect of the Civil War on the lives of real Southern people. In 1,300 letters between many family members, this magnificant book chronicles the Jones family of Liberty County, Georgia from 1854 until the late 1860s. We see the family's lives from day to day as war clouds gather, the son becomes Mayor of Savannah, the army is raised, Sherman's army arrives and pillages the plantation every day for a month, the family becomes destitute refugees from the chaos of war, the slaves become free workers, etc. We see into the minds and hearts of this good family, experience their births and deaths, joys and sorrows and fears, at the time of the nation's greatest political crisis.