George Templeton Strong: Civil War Diaries (LOA #396)

George Templeton Strong (1820-1875) was a New York City lawyer prominent in civic affairs, including long service as a vestryman at Trinity Episcopal Church and as a trustee of his alma mater, Columbia College. During the Civil War he served as treasurer of the United States Sanitary Commission, and in 1863 co-founded New York’s Union League Club. Starting at age 15, he kept a lifelong diary that runs to some 2,250 pages. When first published in a four-volume abridged edition in 1952 it was acclaimed for its vivid observations of nineteenth-century Manhattan and its literary merit, drawing comparisons to celebrated diarists such as Samuel Pepys.

Geoff Wisner, editor, is the editor of, most recently, A Year of Birds- Writings on Birds from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau. His other edited books include Thoreau’s Wildflowers and Thoreau’s Animals. He is the author of A Basket of Leaves- 99 Books That Capture the Spirit of Africa. He earned a degree in English and American Literature from Harvard University, and has written for the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, and the Wall Street Journal.