Journal of a Residence in Chile during the Year 1822, and a Voyage from Chile to Brazil in 1823 Book

This was fantastic... well, not really. It was piecemeal & showed views of the American Civil War that I've never read about in such detail, but was rarely complete - a bunch of vignettes, diary entries that often led no where save to a single, stark, disturbing picture & the urge to weep. No real gore, but it was awful in so many ways & yet so important. At times it was repetitive & even boring, but overall it made a great impression. Sometimes it was almost written in verse.

Whitman started the Long Islander, a newspaper my grandfather owned, published, & edited for decades. My mother got a job there & that's how she met my father, so Whitman is part of our family lore. My grandfather had dozens of editions of his Leaves of Grass & could discuss the differences in great detail. As often as he recommended I read it, I've never made it all the way through, although I probably read all the poems in the last edition at one time or another. IOW, it never really moved me, especially not like this book did. I don't recall Grandpa ever recommending this or reading it, yet I know he was also well versed on Lincoln who shows up more than a few times. Anyway, I find it strange that I really connected to this book.

I did connect, too. The descriptions of the huge hospitals, the sudden influx of so many wounded that even the Patent Office had patients in it for a while, was incredible. The conditions these men faced & Whitman's kindness were all incredible. Perhaps worst was how long the men suffered under the medical care of the day. He doesn't describe an operation, but just how the men laid in their beds afterward. His impressions of important events from the loss at Bull Run to the horrors of Andersonville & Lincoln's assassination were powerful.

Highly recommended to everyone, especially anyone who thinks war is worth waging. This is the side that too rarely makes the written histories &, for all our technological advances, is still a large part.