Surviving the Confederacy

War is hell--and not only on the battlefield, as John Waugh eloquently demonstrates in this fascinating and poignant portrait of one of the South's most well-known and admired couples, Roger and Sara Pryor, their friends, and their society. Pryor was an ardent and fiery newspaper editor, secessionist leader, and soldier; she a graceful and compassionate companion, mother, and survivor. They were present at many of the crucial moments before and during the Civil War, from the first shot at Sumter to the fall of Richmond. Living examples of the South's pride and success before the war, they were also victims of the ensuing privation and destruction. If the Pryors are the principal actors in the drama of Surviving the Confederacy, the people they knew and the people who suffered along with them form a resonant chorus that describes the life of the South during the war and the devastation that followed it. Surviving the Confederacy dramatizes that transformation with a story that is uniquely compelling and alive.