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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Lets start with the author. His research is exacting, methodical, and
painstaking. He brought zero bias to the enterprise and the result is a
stunning achievement that is both scholarly and readable. Douglas, the
"accidental" prison camp began as a training camp for IL. volunteers.
Donalson and Island #10 changed that. The long war no one expected
combined with artic cold, primitive medical care and the barbarity of
the captors created in the authors own words "a death camp." Stanton's
and Grant's policy of halting the prisoner exchange behind the pretense
of Fort Pillow accelerated the suffering. In the latest edition Levy
found the long lost hospital records at the National Archives which
prove conclusively that casualties were deliberately under reported.
Prisoners were tortured, brutality was tolerated and corruption was
widespread. The handling of the dead rivals stories of Nazi Germany. The
largest mass grave in the Western Hemisphere is filled with....the
bodies of Camp Douglas dead, 4200 known and 1800 unknown. No one should
be allowed to speak of Andersonville until they have absorbed the
horror of Douglas.
Format:Hardcover
To Die in Chicago is a wonderfully researched and well-written book
that provides a vivid and heartbreaking account of the Confederate
prisoners who lived and died in a Union prison camp. It gives much
information for anyone seeking information about ancestors held there
and it offers a real sense of the prisoners' daily lives and ordeals. I
checked it out six times from the library and decided it is time to buy
it. You should too.
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| Well researched and detailed presentation of POW camp
Format:Hardcover
George Levy does an excellent job in presenting the life and times of a
Civil War prisoner of war camp -- from its origin to its closing after
the completion of the War. The most positive aspect of the book,
however, is that it lacks bias; Levy is objective throughout his
presentation. The only detractions of the book are what I perceived to
be poor editting. For instance, several statements and facts were often
repeated in later chapters. Also, tables of data were poorly presented
in their format. This is not the author's fault, but rather the
editor's. With regard to content, I would have preferred to read more
descriptions of Camp Douglas from the Union soldiers' point of view
(especially those within the Camp's garrison or the VRC). Nearly all of
the views of the Camp from the Union perspective were based on
administrator's reports and communications. How different were the views
between the common Union soldier and the Confederate POWs? We really
don't get a clear picture of this dichotomy from Levy's book. Overall,
the book is better than any Andersonville book that I've read.
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