Gourley, Catherine The Horrors of Andersonville: Life and Death inside a Civil War Prison, 179 p. Twenty-First Century (Lerner), 2010. $28.95. NON-FICTION. With photographs and illustrations from the time period, Gourley weaves a fairly comprehensive look at the horrible conditions surrounding the Andersonville prison – the camp set up for Union soldiers in Georgia. The North doesn’t come out unscathed either – Gourley freely describes similar problems and other headaches and bumps in the North, including political wrangling between Lincoln and the South. Her meticulous research shines through – the a student doing research on the subject will find everything they need here, includes a bibliography of print and web-based resources for further research. This is an excellent piece of writing, valuable for any school doing higher level Civil War research. MS, HS – ESSENTIAL. Cindy, Library Teacher
Hi Cindy,
ReplyDeleteI just read your review of my book on Andersonville and I want to thank you for the positive comments. The book was a tremendous challenge to research and I had a great deal of material that I could not include in the book. Deciding what stays and what goes is tricky because it can sway the objectivity of the narrative and I wanted to be as objective as I could, given the horrific circumstances. So I especially appreciate your mention of those passages in the book about the North and the appalling conditions of some of the Union prisoner of war camps as well.
Catherine Gourley