audiobook In the Shadow of the Enemy: The Civil War Journal of Ida Powell Dulany (Voices of the Civil War) by Ida Powell Dulany in History

Review

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. An elegant written accountBy Midwest Book ReviewIt is often through the journals and diaries of ordinary people that we get the truest 'window in time' with respects to the events of history and the daily lives of the men and women who lived through them. Publishing such memoirs does critically important service for historians and for non-specialist general readers with an interest in history. Such is clearly the case with respect to "In The Shadow Of The Enemy: The Civil War Journal Of Ida Powell Dulany"; the latest addition to the outstanding 'Voices of the Civil War' series published by the University of Tennessee Press. Deftly co-edited by the team of Mary L. Mackall; Stevan Meserve; and Anne Mackall Sasscer; "In The Shadow Of The Enemy" is a contemporary chronicle kept by Ida Powell Dulany who was mistress of a salve-holding estate and charged with the responsibility for its day-to-day operations when her husband enlisted with the Confederates shortly after the outbreak of the civil war. An elegant written account; "In The Shadow Of The Enemy" provides an informative perspective on how her neighbors and community conducted themselves amidst the turmoil and tribulations that war was to bring them -- including numerous direct confrontations with hostile Union troops. Of special note and value for the reader are the five appendices the editors have provided giving some outline and background providing additional context for the journal entries of Ida Powell Dulany. Enhanced with extensive notes and an index; "In The Shadow Of The Enemy" is a welcome and highly recommended addition to personal; academic; and community library American Civil War and 19th Century American Biography collections and supplemental reading lists.