Astonishing, tragic, and remarkable, the journal of Sarah
Haynsworth Gayle, wife of early Alabama governor John Gayle, is
among the most widely studied and seminal accounts of antebellum
life in the American South. This is the first complete edition of
the journal in print. Bereft of the companionship of her
often-absent husband, Sarah considered her journal “a substitute
for social intercourse” during the period from 1827 to 1835. It
became the social and intellectual companion to which she confided
stories that reflected her personal life and the world of early
Alabama. Sarah speaks directly to us of her loneliness, the
challenges of child rearing, her fear of and frustration with the
management of slaves, and the difficulty of balancing the
responsibilities of a socially prominent woman with her family’s
slender finances. The poor condition of the journal and its
transcripts, sometimes disintegrated or reassembled in the wrong
order, has led historians to misinterpret Gayle’s words.
Gayle’s descendants, Alabama’s famed Gorgases, deliberately
obscured or defaced many passages. Using archival techniques to
recover the text and restore the correct order, Sarah Wiggins and
Ruth Truss reveal the unknown story of Sarah’s economic
hardships, the question of her husband’s “temperance,” and
her opium use. The only reliable and unexpurgated edition of Sarah
Gayle’s journal, now enhanced with a fascinating introduction and
inset notes, The Journal of Sarah Haynsworth Gayle, 1827–1835, is
a robust and gripping account and will be of inestimable value to
our understanding of antebellum society, religion, intellectual
culture, and slavery. Published in cooperation with the University
Libraries, The University of Alabama, with further financial
support from the Library Leadership Board, the University
Libraries, The University of Alabama.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
