Review by Choice Review
Living during the Civil War in contested Lexington, KY, Peters was moved by Union sentiments to keep a war diary. Though reclusive because of epilepsy (from which she died in 1864), Peters noted what she saw and heard of local events and opinion, troop movements, and the activities of the neighborhood's "secesh" women (Confederate sympathizers). The major part of the diary is here printed in an attractive format with extensive identifying annotations. As a writer Peters was competent, but not especially gifted. As an individual she was not especially perceptive or influential. Her diary is thus of interest mostly to specialists. Most readers can be justifiably satisfied instead with the helpful introduction; the editors comment perceptively on significant characteristics of the diary and place it in the historiography of the Civil War and of women's history. Recommended only for libraries with very strong regional or topical interests. A. Graebner; College of St. Catherine
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
