"Anna Calhoun Clemson was John C. Calhoun's favorite child. After reading Ann Russell's biography based on Anna's letters, one finds it easy to understand why. The product of a famous family and an exceptional woman, Anna was also, as Russell ably demonstrates, very much "a southern lady." Her story-her "life's journey," as Calhoun told his daughter her life would be–gives us a glimpse of an important southern family, of southern womanhood, of heartbreak and difficulty, of a nation torn apart by sectional conflict. Like Mary Chesnut's famous diary, Anna's letters, the crux of Russell's study, provide us with a rich, detailed picture of southern life, both personal and public."
