Andersonville novel

[FortyRounder]

For those looking to kill time with some good Civil War fiction I heartily recommend "Andersonville" by MacKinlay Kantor. No, this isn't the novelization of the TNT movie; it's a truly masterful work that won the Pulitzer Prize. And yet, it seems to be largely forgotten today.

Although published in 1955, "Andersonville" is surprisingly authentic, the product of thirty years' research by the author. Unlike the characters of more modern historical fiction, his heroes and villains actually think, sound and act like people in the 19th Century. Kantor was writing before the "political correctness" fad took over and consequently his work has the feeling of truth about it, even if it is fiction.

Weighing in at 766 pages it is a hefty tome, but also the best Civil War novel I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

[BobSullivanPress]

Re: Andersonville novel

I agree, and heartily recommend this work as well. Though I read it years ago, I still vividly remember parts of the book.

This is one of those works that is classified as fiction simply because there is conversation between the characters, and the characters themselves are composites of real people. The incidents and life as portrayed in the book are factual enough.

[Michael Comer]

Re: Andersonville novel

It is a good one. I read it a long time ago but also still remember the visual pictures painted - especially the trial and execution of the gang of prisoners that preyed on their comrades.

Kantor wrote another interesting book: "If the South Had Won the Civil War". To my knowledge, this is one of the first alternative history works to have been produced about the war. I have an old paperback copy somewhere that is about 30 years old. I believe the original was written in the 60's.