Historical Fiction · DarkLife inside a Confederate prison camp, told from many sides
Andersonville
The Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, seen from both sides of the wire
The novel is set at Andersonville, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in the American Civil War. It is told from many viewpoints and mixes real and fictional characters, among them the camp commandant Henry Wirz and the Union prisoner John McElroy. It contrasts the Raiders, bounty jumpers who steal from other prisoners and live comfortably, with prisoners dying of starvation and disease.
More about this book
Who
Henry Wirz, the camp commandant; William Collins, a Union soldier and leader of the Raiders; John McElroy and Boston Corbett, Union prisoners; and many others.
World
Andersonville prison, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp, during the American Civil War.
What makes it different
It draws heavily on prisoner memoirs and portrays Wirz as a sick man overwhelmed by his job rather than as an inhuman villain. At about 767 pages it is long. It won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Feel
Grim and heavy, a long book about a terrible place.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
It draws heavily on prisoner memoirs, and it portrays Wirz as a sick man overwhelmed by his job rather than as an inhuman villain.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- AndersonvilleWikipedia