A Private War: The Letters and Diaries of Madge Preston, 1862-1867Virginia Walcott Beauchamp, editor                        "Preston was an upper-class, well-educated Catholic matron living on an estate near Baltimore, Maryland, during the Civil War. Beauchamp has edited Preston's letters to her daughter . . . and her private journals to highlight Preston's domestic problems ('the private war') with her husband. . . . offer[s] significant insights on how women coped with domestic tyranny in a predivorce era. . . . An outstanding volume."ÐÐChoice"With all the recent interest in the Civil War, this book offers a peek at a real middle-class family living in what is now Towson [Maryland] during that period."ÐÐWashington Post Book World"Madge Preston's papers provide a fascinating glimpse of spousal abuse. . . makes a valuable contribution to the literature of women in the nineteenth century."ÐÐMaryland Historical Magazine"The rallying cry of the modern feminist movement is 'The personal is the political.' Nowhere do we more eloquently see the painful truth of that credo than in Madge Preston's letters and diaries. . . a moving testament to the bond between mother and daughter . . . will be important to historians and herstorians alike."ÐÐBelles LettresVirginia Walcott Beauchamp teaches at the University of Maryland at College Park.pp. Paper, $15.95s, 0-8135-   . August.