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The State of Jones
The Small Southern County that Seceded from the Confederacy
1 of 1 copy available
The State of Jones is a true story about the South during the Civil War—the real South. Not the South that has been mythologized in novels and movies, but an authentic, hardscrabble place where poor men were forced to fight a rich man’s war for slavery and cotton. In Jones County, Mississippi, a farmer named Newton Knight led his neighbors, white and black alike, in an insurrection against the Confederacy at the height of the Civil War. Knight’s life story mirrors the little-known story of class struggle in the South—and it shatters the image of the Confederacy as a unified front against the Union.
This riveting investigative account takes us inside the battle of Corinth, where thousands lost their lives over less than a quarter mile of land, and to the dreadful siege of Vicksburg, presenting a gritty picture of a war in which generals sacrificed thousands through their arrogance and ignorance. Off the battlefield, the Newton Knight story is rich in drama as well. He was a man with two loves: his wife, who was forced to flee her home simply to survive, and an ex-slave named Rachel, who, in effect, became his second wife. It was Rachel who cared for Knight during the war when he was hunted by the Confederates, and, later, when members of the Knight clan sought revenge for the disgrace he had brought upon the family name.
Working hand in hand with John Stauffer, distinguished chair and professor of the History of American Civilization at Harvard University, Sally Jenkins has made the leap from preeminent sportswriter to a historical writer endowed with the accuracy, drive, and passion of Doris Kearns Goodwin. The result is Civil War history at its finest.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 23, 2009 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781415962961
- File size: 374681 KB
- Duration: 13:00:35
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Treated like chattel by incompetent officers, starving Confederate soldiers ate their shoelaces and died of thirst and dysentery. When their uniforms rotted, men were forced to replace them with pillaged carpet. Desertion meant prison or death. Led by a man named Newton Knight, a group of disillusioned Southerners from Jones County, Mississippi, banded together to thwart the Confederate cause. Narrator Don Leslie is the perfect partner for this story. His skillful inflections make the endless misery described both real and unforgettable, essential to understanding why the Rebels rebelled against their own. When called for, he speaks the Southern accent, adding authenticity without being comedic. Unlike most other histories about the Civil War, this production focuses on the everyday hardships of everyone in the South. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine -
Narrator Don Leslie blends the skills of a storyteller and a teacher to offer the listener entertainment that provides a new perspective on the Civil War. His straightforward presentation mirrors the accessible format of the text, in which the authors balance documented historical fact with local and family lore to tell the story of maverick Newton Knight and Jones County. This abridgment delivers plenty of riveting detail, and Leslie successfully carries the listener through the horror and intensity of the battlefield while also bringing a personal, human dimension to the overwhelming issues that caused families, states, and ultimately the entire nation to rupture. This is not just for history buffs. Any listener who wants to hear a good story will appreciate this intriguingly different view of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the continuing struggle for Civil Rights. M.O.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
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Starred review from June 22, 2009
The grandson of a wealthy Mississippi slave-owner, Newton Knight was an abolitionist and two-time rebel deserter who actively fought against the Confederacy, and bore a large family with a former slave. His home, Jones County, Miss., saw great hardship during the Civil War; Confederate taxes "pushed small farm families, who provided the rank and file foot soldiers, to the brink of destitution." Jenkins (The Real All Americans: The Team That Changed a Game, a People, a Nation) and Stauffer (Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln) employ painstaking research into Knight and Jones County, resulting in an engaging and original portrait of life inside the Confederacy. Knight's Scouts, formed after Vicksburg set off a wave of rebel desertions, carried out their own justice in Jones County, using clever techniques for communication, intimidation and warfare against the home team ("the sorts of exploits" that Sherman would appreciate). Knight's post-war efforts for equality included building an integrated school; when residents objected to his own mixed-race children attending, however, Knight burned it to the ground. Spanning more than 100 years, this family story brings home the lasting effects of hate and fear, love and acceptance, as well as the strides that have brought us to where we are.
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