This volume gives evidence of many years of careful research and reflection. It is a sound study of the influence of the landowning southern aristocracy in state and national affairs. Members of the Clay family, like many others of the antebellum period, combined law, agriculture, and politics. They lived the 'good life' of the planter class and struggled to defend ... Read morewhat they considered southern rights. The Clement C. Clays, father and son, both distinguished themselves in the U.S. Senate [and] the latter also served in the Confederate Senate. - Mississippi Valley Historical Review The history of one of Alabama's most distinguished families.... The author succeeds in the difficult task of making the past come alive again, and she does it by the skillful employment of a multitudinous number of sources. - Alabama Review Show Less