Review: War in All Its Agony
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 20, 2011
I only knew what the author posted on Twitter "A doctor steps into an elevator and descends into the Civil War," when I bought this book.  I had it in my head that it was a time travel novel but quickly learned that it was a war story. I'm not into war in books or in movies, but decided to press on even though the first third of the book is one graphic, gross body-part amputation after another under dirty, field conditions by 19th century medics who weren't much more than butchers. Then came battle after battle, chapter after chapter, and the story of the two doctors began to work in. To my surprise, it turned out to be quite a good story as well as an up close and personal look at the non-glorious side of war. The writer did an impressive job in describing some of the Civil War battles, drawing the reader in to where one experienced the horrors of the fighting, the bravery of the soldiers and the grim despair in the medical tents.  I am an amateur genealogist, having traced my first born male line all the way back to our English immigrant, a planter for the crown and member of the local militia.  Our men fought in every major war from the Revolutionary through Civil, WWI and WWII, but thankfully the last one served after Korea and before Iraq.  I have a better grasp on my Civil War ancestral father now, who left his slave-owning father's plantation to fight for the north with the 7th KY Cavalry, wounded but not captured in the battle of Richmond, and my favored Revolutionary War ancestral father, wounded at Germantown with Gen. Washington.  Thanks, Chris Peterson, for an intense, touching and well-researched look at that terrible war.