Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Trade Cloth, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 454 g
The Journal of Eliza A.W. Otis, 1860-1863, with Letters and Civil War Journal of Harrison Gray Otis
Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Trade Cloth, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 454 g
ISBN: 978-0-87328-181-2
Verlag: Huntington Library Press
The book is divided into three parts. The first documents are letters written from Harrison to Eliza just after their marriage in 1859. Eliza's journal, which she kept from 1860 to 1863, forms the second, much longer, section. The journal draws a highly readable portrait of this young newlywed, whose thoughts and experiences tell us much about the women of her era. Her candid comments on the people around her are especially revealing of her own character and of Victorian sensibility. The final section, a brief Civil War diary written by Harrison in the field from 1862 to 1863, provides a common soldier's view of that great struggle.
The three sets of documents shed light not only on the Otis family but also on the experience of ordinary Americans during the Civil War. They also suggest the widespread impact of the war on the development of the West. Harrison and Eliza Otis were but two of the thousands of soldiers and their families who resettled in California after the war to begin a new life. The experience and ideals expressed in the documents in this book were widely shared. The emergence of the Otises as major public leaders in Southern California and the success of the Los Angeles Times grew out of their struggle during the Civil War years and the values they forged as a consequence of that conflict.