Emma Mordecai lived a life that was as unique and fascinating as it was unconventional. In an era where only 1% of the population in the Old South was Jewish, she identified as Jewish. Despite being an American, born into a generation where most American Jews were immigrants, she remained unmarried and faced limited prospects outside of marriage. She navigated the social norms of the South for white women, embraced Southern values, and owned enslaved African Americans.

“The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai” is one of the few surviving Civil War diaries written by a Jewish woman from the pre-war South. This diary meticulously documents her daily existence and the shifting viewpoints she developed regarding Confederate nationalism, Southern identity, her Jewish heritage, the roles of women during wartime, the gendered domestic dynamics within slave-owning households, and the profound importance of family bonds. The book does not shy away from the racist social and political structures that defined Emma Mordecai’s world, while simultaneously chronicling her experiences of displacement and the profound loss of her home during the tumultuous period. Through vivid descriptions of hospital visits, food shortages, local social interactions, Jewish religious observances, the auditory and visual impact of nearby battles, and the deeply personal consequences of emancipation and its aftermath for her household and family, “The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai” provides a rich and unparalleled perspective on a singular historical figure from the final years of the Civil War in the South.