This book is a history and portrait of Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson, the daughter and frequent confidante of John Caldwell Calhoun, a significant political and intellectual figure of nineteenth-century American history. Anna married Thomas Green Clemson and together they became co-founders of Clemson University. "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." --Dr. C. Alan Grubb