The Better Angel
Price:
$39.99 (06)Description
For nearly three years, Walt Whitman immersed himself in the devastation of the Civil War, tending to thousands of wounded soldiers and recording his experiences with an immediacy and compassion unequaled in wartime literature anywhere in the world.In The Better Angel, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris, Jr. gives us the fullest account of Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War years and an historically invaluable examination of the Union's treatment of its sick and wounded. Whitman was mired in depression as the war began, subsisting on journalistic hackwork, his "great career" as a poet apparently stalled. But when news came that his brother George had been wounded at Fredericksburg, Whitman rushed south to find him. Deeply affected by his first view of the war's casualties, he began visiting the camp's wounded and found his calling for the duration of the war. Three years later, he emerged as the war's "most unlikely hero," a living symbol of American democratic ideals of sharing and brotherhood.
Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The Better Angel explores a side of Whitman not fully examined before, one that greatly enriches our understanding of his later poetry. Moreover, it gives us a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the "other army"--the legions of sick and wounded soldiers who are usually left in the shadowy background of Civil War history--seen here through the unflinching eyes of America's greatest poet.
Reviews
"A thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln."--The New York Times Book Review
"A balanced, insightful portrait [of] a complex man discovering himself and his poetry through the injured sons of the nation he loved."--American History
"Morris endows this episode from the past with the immediacy of contemporary reportage."--The New Yorker
"Exceedingly elegant....A compelling portrait."--The Wall Street Journal
"A sweet and powerful study of Whitman's Civil War years."--The Denver Post
"Morris brings us in for a close, often harrowing look at the poet in a moment of national and personal crisis."--Out Magazine
"Exploring a different side of America's war and of the man people consider America's greatest poet, The Better Angel is enlightening reading."--The Winston-Salem Journal
About the Author(s)
Roy Morris, Jr. is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is the author of Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan and Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company.
