Post by Donald Hash on Jun 6, 2010 7:51:40 GMT -5
The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War, by Roy Morris, Jr.
I just finished this book. I've been a fan of Walt Whitman for years (particularly "Pioneers! O, Pioneers!"), but I never wondered much about his personal life. Little did I know that his time visiting the wounded and dying veterans in hundreds of Civil War hospitals was a major part of his life. He crossed the paths of a few famous people (some before they were "American icons" in their own right), and even Abraham Lincoln himself a few times.
The book is heavy on quotes upon quotes, page after page, but although distracting at first they really drive the narrative forward. The description of the Civil War-era hospitals, medical techniques (or lack thereof), and the impact upon the veterans is eye-opening and shocking.
The complex issues of "the Secession War" are brought to life through Whitman's reactions both for and against Lincoln's decisions.
In Whitman's reaction to Lincoln's death, Morris writes:
"With his lifelong love of theatrics, Whitman found the assassination fascinating on a number of levels. Not only was the president himself 'the leading actor in the greatest and stormiest drama known to real history's stage,' but his ebony-eyed assassin had become in life what he had been only fitfully in his art, a romantic villain of Shakespearean proportions..."
Good stuff.
I just finished this book. I've been a fan of Walt Whitman for years (particularly "Pioneers! O, Pioneers!"), but I never wondered much about his personal life. Little did I know that his time visiting the wounded and dying veterans in hundreds of Civil War hospitals was a major part of his life. He crossed the paths of a few famous people (some before they were "American icons" in their own right), and even Abraham Lincoln himself a few times.
The book is heavy on quotes upon quotes, page after page, but although distracting at first they really drive the narrative forward. The description of the Civil War-era hospitals, medical techniques (or lack thereof), and the impact upon the veterans is eye-opening and shocking.
The complex issues of "the Secession War" are brought to life through Whitman's reactions both for and against Lincoln's decisions.
In Whitman's reaction to Lincoln's death, Morris writes:
"With his lifelong love of theatrics, Whitman found the assassination fascinating on a number of levels. Not only was the president himself 'the leading actor in the greatest and stormiest drama known to real history's stage,' but his ebony-eyed assassin had become in life what he had been only fitfully in his art, a romantic villain of Shakespearean proportions..."
Good stuff.