War Letters : Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History
Book Type: Paperback
Helpful Score: 1
t's good to find a book that puts the carnival of carnage known as war in perspective, and such is the case with "War Letters", a collection of correspondence from just about every great and not-so-great conflict in American history.
The editor, Andrew Carroll, does a superb job of mixing the types and plights of the American servicemen and women who pour their hearts into the pages of these letters. Examples: a man who writes a last letter before his hanging for participating in John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry; a WWII soldier who describes the horror of liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp; a Gold Star mother writes to her son, thirty years after his death in Vietnam.
The editor also sets up the letters nicely with italicized lead-ins that provide historical perspective.
As a whole, love of country is somewhat evident in these letters, but even more prominent and common is love of family.
War represents the despicably vicious side of mankind, and it's a poignant irony that the experience yields some of the most tender, loving and eloquent phrasings ever placed on paper.
The editor, Andrew Carroll, does a superb job of mixing the types and plights of the American servicemen and women who pour their hearts into the pages of these letters. Examples: a man who writes a last letter before his hanging for participating in John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry; a WWII soldier who describes the horror of liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp; a Gold Star mother writes to her son, thirty years after his death in Vietnam.
The editor also sets up the letters nicely with italicized lead-ins that provide historical perspective.
As a whole, love of country is somewhat evident in these letters, but even more prominent and common is love of family.
War represents the despicably vicious side of mankind, and it's a poignant irony that the experience yields some of the most tender, loving and eloquent phrasings ever placed on paper.
