In this fascinating autobiography the post-bellum South is viewed through the lens of an educated woman whose family had deep and lasting ties to the area. Mary Alves Long was born in Randolph County, North Carolina in 1864, just before the end of the Civil War. Her father, a lawyer and planter, was opposed to succession but had voted for it as a member of the Succession convention. She graduated from Peace Institute [College] in Raleigh, NC and eventually earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.