Williams also edited and annotated the diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886), a Confederate wife; although others had published shorter editions, his version, titled "A Diary from Dixie", was the most comprehensive edition for several decades. Recent commentators have noted that "his lack of scholarly acumen was alternately hailed by reviewers and lamented by academic critics, but Williams's work on the edition signaled his unwavering immersion in Civil War history." Steven Stowe of Indiana University explained that "Ben Ames Williams, a writer of popular fiction, brought out an edition of Chesnut’s diary in 1949, now known as one of the most extravagant escapades of editorial overreaching."