Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Civil War POW story, but . . ., June 25, 2000
QUICK REVIEW: An adequate record of the horrors of the Andersonville POW camp during the Civil War. This is not as descriptive as it could be but it still captures the story of a POW's live as a prisoner in an interesting way.FULL REVIEW: This account of one soldier's life as a prisoner is good as a story of the events that occur during his imprisonment. However it is not a great account of life at Andersonville specifically. He is only in Andersonville for six months and spends the other half of the book telling us about the other situations he was involved in. He tells us first about life as a prisoner in Richmond, then later about his escape attempts, life in the hospital, etc. He admits, in the diary, that he is not good at writing discriptively, so there are some important details that are left out which other books on Andersonville would describe. But the events he records do reflect the conditions that existed there. It is an interesting story of a prisoner in the South during the Civil War, and is worth reading.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Civil War atrocity, March 22, 2004
When one considers that John Ransom, at the time of his interment at Andersonville, was not a professional writer, and that much of his recounting of his horrible experiences was censored, this diary is compelling, gritty, gruesome, and all too credible. This unblinking look at a part of Civil War history that is often overlooked, captured my attention as few diaries have. (The diary of Anne Frank, of course, being the most engaging and heart-rending of the genre.)The stories of mistreatment of the Union soldiers abound--by other Union soldiers as well as the Confederates! But no scourge was more frightful than the natural ones: the weather, insects, and contaminants were just as unfeeling and effective in their decimation of the prison population. This is not a diary for the weak-hearted. The constant tales of humiliation, hunger, and brutality, along with the growing list of Ransom's associates who were dying all around him, are incessant. Just when things get to their grimmest, the reader is treated to the suspense of Ransom's breakout and escape, which you have to read to believe. Whether you are a devotee of Civil War stories or not, John Ransom's "Andersonville Diary/Life Inside the Civil War's Most Infamous Prison" is a fabulous story of toughing it out in the worst of situations, and a thorough examination of one of the Civil War's darkest times and places. Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding personal history, May 26, 1999
This is simply the best Civil War personal history I have ever read. It is at the same time depressing and uplifting. The struggle, humor, and horror of the situation is amply described. John Ransom lived an entire lifetime in a little over a year spent as a prisoner. It is history presented as it should be.
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