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Title: The State of Jones

Subtitle: The Small Southern County that Seceded from the Confederacy

Author: Sally Jenkins, John Stauffer

Narrator: Don Leslie

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-23-09

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

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.

Members Reviews:

Learned my relatives are from Jones Co.

Wow.. Just now realized my great grand mother and her family (surname of Dossett) lived in Jones County during the era covered by this book. I will be taking trip there soon to explore the status of my relatives further... whether they were among the Confederate resisters there. Prior to this book, I had not known of my g.grandmother's ties to Jones County.... although I did know my father's people (Bullock) came from Covington County, MS (right next door to Jones as it turns out). Discovering this special tie, of course, made the book particularly interesting to me. So glad I happened upon this book.

An excellent view of the battles and tactics of Newt Knight's guerrilla band

Coincidentally I chose this of the 3 I bought to read first and it was a good choice. The authors explore the events leading up to the battles of Vicksburg and Corinth that brought about the draft that called up Knight and many of his friends and family.

The inept leadership from officers who had bought their commissions, marching them back and forth in endless, meaningless marches that exhausted them before any battles were engaged.