BEST LITTLE STORIES FROM THE CIVIL WAR Varina Forgotten First Lady - Softcover

Kelly, C. Brian & Ingrid Smyer

3.56

487 ratings by Goodreads

9780962487576: BEST LITTLE STORIES FROM THE CIVIL WAR Varina Forgotten First Lady

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0962487570 ISBN 13: 9780962487576

Publisher: Montpelier Publishing, 1994

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A journalistic telling of the human stories behind the history books. More than 101 vignettes from all walks of life, all aspects of this tragic conflict---meet the soldiers, sailors and slaves, the politicians, the women, and so many other faces in the crowd! Drummer boys, free blacks, a few villains, and heroes of all kinds, even "Old Abe the Soldier Bird". Read about Robert E. Lee's rebound from near failure...Stonewall Jackson's off day in battle...Abe Lincoln's personal spy in the South...a mysterious stalker following General (and Mrs.) U.S. Grant the night of the Lincoln assassination. Not every Civil War book is all about battles. Not this one, anyway. Sure, you'll read about various combatants and their stories---major battles ARE treated, but so are the civilian onlookers (and sometime victims!). Meet both the major personalities and the so-called "little people" also contributing to the social history of their age. As a special feature, please welcome the truly dramatic story of Varina Howell Davis, Forgotten First Lady of the South!

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From the Publisher:

Best Little Stories from the Civil War, now in 5th edition, is the third in our Best Little Stories series of historical books. Previously published were Best Little Stories from World War II (1989) by C. Brian Kelly, now in 7th edition, and Best Little Stories from the White House (1992) by C. Brian Kelly, including First Ladies in Review by Ingrid Smyer, now in 5th edition. The Kelly-Smyer couple have sold more than 64,000 copies of their three self-published historical books. He is a former newspaper reporter (The Washington Star for 16 years), former editor of Military History and World War II magazines and currently is a columnist for Military History (Best Little Stories again!), a lecturer in news-writing at the University of Virginia...and a transplanted Yankee. His wife Ingrid, also a writer-researcher, hails from Alabama. They both love their history, their book work, book people in general, their children and their grand-children! Here's what Practical Homeschooling (November/December 1996) had to say about our series as a whole: "Some books you just can't put down....All three of these books fall in the 'can't put down' category. Each includes 101 short stories that put flesh on historical figures and give life to dates and places." Next on our fast-developing list? What else but Best Little Stories from the American Revolution (including Select Founding Mothers)?

Review:

A collection of vignettes sure to appeal to even those least interested in the war....Unlike many military interest books that focus on tactics and strategy, Kelly's is one that looks to the human side of the war. -- Birmingham Alabama News, Feb. 19, 1996

A diligent historian and a born storyteller, Kelly has dug extensively into the annals of the war to compile this anthology of the unusual....The book includes a graceful and revealing portrait of Varina Howell Davis, the fiesty first lady of the Confederacy, written by Kelly's wife, Ingrid Smyer. -- Michael Hull in America's Civil War, September 1995

Although the content will add a lot to the reader's historical knowledge, the format makes this book a good one for unhurried reading for just plain pleasure.---The Rebel Rouser -- Gen. W.L. Cabell Camp No. 1313, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Dallas, Texas

Stories reminiscent of those your great-grandpa would tell....All the stories are true and are often about little known incidents. -- Practical Homeschooling, November/December 1996

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