William Howard Russell's Civil War: Private Diary and Letters, 1861-1862
These are the notes on which the Times of London's crack war correspondent based his polished, coherent book of the first year of the Civil War, My Diary North and South , which made enemies of Americans on both sides of the struggle and influenced British opinion of the conflict. Here too are Russell's unvarnished and unedited first impressions of food, fashions, inns, streets, culture, fighting men, issues and politicians. He dined with Seward, met Lincoln and MacClellan, traveled from North to South, inspected jails, visited cotton fields and battle sites, listened to talk about "breeding Negroes," and was hosted by the elite and the common folk. Although many of these notes are too roughly cast to be useful, there are gems of detail among them--omitted in his account--which illuminate the times and provide a portrait of the eccentric, sophisticated and informed reporter. The splendid biographical sketch of Russell and the impact of his published observations supplied by British historian Crawford smooth the way through much of what is otherwise a compilation of uneven value. inconse quential treatment. Illustrations.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.