Book Notes

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary: At the Confederate States Capital. Volume 1: April 1861–July 1863. By J. B. Jones. Edited by James I. Robertson Jr. Modern War Studies. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2015. Pp. xx, 467. $45.00, ISBN 978-0-7006-2123-1.); A Rebel War Clerk's Diary: At the Confederate States Capital. Volume 2: August 1863–April 1865. By J. B. Jones. Edited by James I. Robertson Jr. Modern War Studies. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2015. Pp. x, 589. $50.00, ISBN 978-0-7006-2124-8.) John Beauchamp Jones served as a senior clerk in the Confederate War Department during the American Civil War and maintained a diary detailing his experiences. Jones's diary was first published in 1866, and it remains one of the most widely cited published primary sources in the field of Civil War studies. Jones's diary is a gold mine of personal observations and opinions that provides historians with a means of studying military situations, politics, slavery, foreign relations, and the role of women in the Civil War.

James I. Robertson Jr.'s two volumes contain all of Jones's previously published diary entries spanning the entire Civil War as well as footnotes for each entry. Robertson's footnotes will prove most beneficial to scholars. Jones's diary entries were very rich in detail and often included quotations from specific newspapers, correspondence, and speeches. Robertson's footnotes situate the details, people, and events Jones described in a broader context by providing the specific newspaper issues as well as names of speeches and individuals to help scholars better understand the war clerk's observations and references. Robertson's contributions greatly improve the quality of a valuable primary source that is already widely employed by scholars of the United States Civil War. [Edward Valentin, Rice University]

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Kentucky Renaissance: The Lexington Camera Club and Its Community, 1954–1974. By Brian Sholis. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. Pp. xvi, 175. $45.00, ISBN 978-0-300-21898-5.) This volume is a lovely catalog of an exhibition that opened at the Cincinnati Art Museum in October 2016. Curator Brian Sholis has prepared a substantive introductory essay to complement 110 high-quality plates. The book also features a charming short contribution by John Jeremiah Sullivan. Convening at the University of Kentucky (and later at Transylvania University), the Lexington Camera Club began its monthly meetings in 1936, but the period in focus here begins in 1954, when Ralph Eugene Meatyard joined the group and Van Deren Coke featured members' photographs in an exhibition. Meatyard anchored the group until his death in 1972. The catalog features his work and that of Coke, Zygmunt S. Gierlach, James Baker Hall, Robert C. May, Guy Mendes, Thomas Merton, Cranston Ritchie, Charles Traub, and Jonathan Williams.

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Once in a Lifetime: Reflections of a Mississippi First Lady. By Elise Varner Winter. Edited by JoAnne Prichard Morris. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015. Pp. xxviii, 256. $28.00, ISBN 978-1-62846-219-7.) In January 1980 William Forrest Winter and his wife, Elise Varner Winter, began their tenure as Mississippi's newly elected governor and first lady. During her time as first lady, Mrs. Winter kept verbally dictated journal entries, which are now presented in a new, edited volume, Once in a Lifetime: Reflections of a Mississippi First Lady. Mrs. Winter's writings offer insight into the southern political world during the early 1980s, the successes and failures of state politics and policies, and life in the governor's mansion. As first lady, Mrs. Winter recounts her active four years as both hostess and engaged political partner.

The book, which begins with a foreword by JoAnne Prichard Morris, is organized by topic. It covers Mrs. Winter's life in the governor's mansion, her travels, which included the White House, and her active role in social issues and progressive programs, such as education and prison reform. Her journal entries offer a clear voice and highlight her balance of work and family. In 1984 Mrs. Winter stated, "It has been an unusual time, a rich and fulfilling time, and I...