Publisher Description

On May 26, 1863, Walt Whitman wrote to his mother: "O the sad, sad things I see--the noble young men with legs and arms taken off--the deaths--the sick weakness, sicker than death, that some endure, after amputations...just flickering alive, and O so deathly weak and sick." For nearly three years, Whitman immersed himself in the devastation of the Civil War, tending to thousands of wounded soldiers and recording his experience with an immediacy and compassionunequaled in wartime literature anywhere in the world. In The Better Angel, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris, Jr. gives us the fullest accounting of Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil WarYears and an historically invaluable examination of the Union's treatment of its sick and wounded. Whitman was mired in depression as the war began, subsisting on journalistic hackwork, wasting his nights in New York's seedy bohemian underground, his "great career" as a poet apparently stalled. But when news came that his brother George had been wounded at Fredericksburg, Whitman rushed south to find him. Though his brother's injury was slight, Whitman was deeply affected by his first view ofthe war's casualties. He began visiting the camp's wounded and, almost by accident, found his calling for the duration of the war. Three years later, he emerged as the war's "most unlikely hero," aliving symbol of American democratic ideals of sharing and brotherhood. Instead of returning to Brooklyn as planned, Whitman continued to visit the wounded soldiers in the hospitals in and around the capital. He brought them ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens and paper, wrote letters for those who were not able and offered to all the enormous healing influence of his sympathy and affection. Indeed, several soldiers claimed that Whitman had saved their lives. Onenoted that Whitman "seemed to have what everybody wanted" and added "When this old heathen came and gave me a pipe and tobacco, it was about the most joyful moment of my life." Another wrote that "There ismany a soldier that never thinks of you but with emotions of the greatest gratitude." But if Whitman gave much to the soldiers, they in turn gave much to him. In witnessing their stoic suffering, in listening to their understated speech, and in being always in the presence of death, Whitman evolved the new and more direct poetic style that was to culminate in his masterpiece, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The BetterAngel explores a side of Whitman not fully examined before, one that greatly enriches our understanding of his later poetry. More than that, it gives us a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the "otherarmy"--the legions of sick and wounded soldiers who are usually left in the shadowy background of Civil War history--seen here through the unflinching eyes of America's greatest poet.

Author Biography

Roy Morris, Jr. is the editor of America's Civil War magazine. He is the author of Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan and Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company, and the editor of The Devil's Dictionary, (OUP). He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Review

"A thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln."--The New York Times Book Review"A balanced, insightful portrait [of] a complex man discovering himself and his poetry through the injured sons of the nation he loved."--American History"Morris endows this episode from the past with the immediacy of contemporary reportage."--The New Yorker"Exceedingly elegant....A compelling portrait."--The Wall Street Journal"A sweet and powerful study of Whitman's Civil War years."--The Denver Post"Morris brings us in for a close, often harrowing look at the poet in a moment of national and personal crisis."--Out Magazine"Exploring a different side of America's war and of the man people consider America's greatest poet, The Better Angel is enlightening reading."--The Winston-Salem Journal"Morris' study of Whitman in the Civil War is valuable for both literary and historical reasons. It allows us to better understand Whitman as a poet and the trials and experiences of those sick, wounded and dying too often relegated to the background of Civil War study."--The Roanoke Times"The Better Angel, is both a timely and valuable account of Whitman's four years serving the needs of the crippled and dying in some of the worst field hospitals of the war."--The Long Islander"Morris...has done his research well....Whitman's sobering wartime experience has been captured in a refined, well-researched book sure to appeal to all those interested in American poetry and the Civil War."--The Civil War News"Morris's...prose is simple, graceful, and elegant. Together, he and Whitman provide us with an indelible picture of war's terrible wake."--Providence Journal"Exploring a different side of America's war and of the man people consider America's greatest poet, The Better Angel is enlightening reading."--The Winston-Salem Journal"In this first full account of Whitman's Civil War years, Morris leaves readers with a new image of what he calls `a great mothering sort of man' who visited the hospitals in and around Washington, D.C. for three years, bringing his charges ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens, and paper; he wrote letters for those who could not, and more than a few died in his arms."--Library Journal"Morris's skills as a researcher are evident and his writing is first rate. Teens can read Better Angel as a moving introduction to Whitman, for its information on the home front and the medical profession during the Civil War, or to gain insight into the sociological and psychological aftermath of the war on individuals or nations."--School Library"Brilliantly researched and written....An invaluable addition to Whitman scholarship."--Etcetera Magazine"The Better Angel illuminates Walt Whitman's Civil War years with frankness and compassion. Its insights and compelling narrative afford us new and humanly rich understandings of the poet and his vision of America."--Robert H. Abzug, author of Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination and Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps"Roy Morris, Jr.'s elegant and moving book shows how the great civil war that redeemed the nation's soul also reawakened the soul of the nation's greatest poet, Walt Whitman. It is essential reading for everyone who cares about American culture."--Sean Wilentz, Princeton University, author of Chants Democratic and The Kingdom of Matthias"This deftly written, almost unbearably moving book serves us to remind us powerfully of the horrors faced by the wounded on the Civil War battlefields, of the genius and compassion of Walt Whitman in dealing with them, and of the remarkable skill of one of America's most accomplished biographers in researching and telling so poignant a story."--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and The Madman"This pathbreaking study of Whitman's Civil War years reveals more facts--and a greater understanding--of the man than the vain, foppish poet-nurse that too many writers have sought to create."--James I. Robertson, Jr., author of Stonewall Jackson"A particularly thorough and informative account of the poet's activities during the Civil War."--The Boston Book Review"Morris brings us in for a close, often harrowing look at the poet in a moment of national and personal crisis. He follows Whitman's descent into hell and reveals how the lifeblood of a nation of young men revitalized and reinvented the 'Good Gay Poet'"--Out Magazine"The Civil War years were transformative for Walt Whitman, leading him to a new, more direct poetic style. In The Better Anger, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris Jr. presents the first full account of this period in Whitman's life."--Inside Borders"Fascinating....An artfully told war biography, a narrative of intricate fabric into which the author has sewn details rich with social, military, political, and literary history."--The Washington Times"A moving, detailed work [that] presents a new perspective of a towering literary persona and...a fascinating time in American history."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Promotional

The first full account of Whitman's Civil War years sheds new light on the man, his poetry, and the treatment of the war's sick and wounded.

Long Description

For nearly three years, Walt Whitman immersed himself in the devastation of the Civil War, tending to thousands of wounded soldiers and recording his experiences with an immediacy and compassion unequaled in wartime literature anywhere in the world. In The Better Angel, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris, Jr. gives us the fullest account of Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War years and an historically invaluable examination of the
Union's treatment of its sick and wounded. Whitman was mired in depression as the war began, subsisting on journalistic hackwork, his "great career" as a poet apparently stalled. But when news came that his brother
George had been wounded at Fredericksburg, Whitman rushed south to find him. Deeply affected by his first view of the war's casualties, he began visiting the camp's wounded and found his calling for the duration of the war. Three years later, he emerged as the war's "most unlikely hero," a living symbol of American democratic ideals of sharing and brotherhood. Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The Better Angel explores a side of Whitman not fully examined
before, one that greatly enriches our understanding of his later poetry. Moreover, it gives us a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the "other army"--the legions of sick and wounded soldiers who are usually left
in the shadowy background of Civil War history--seen here through the unflinching eyes of America's greatest poet.

Review Text

"A thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln."--The New York Times Book Review
"A balanced, insightful portrait [of] a complex man discovering himself and his poetry through the injured sons of the nation he loved."--American History
"Morris endows this episode from the past with the immediacy of contemporary reportage."--The New Yorker
"Exceedingly elegant....A compelling portrait."--The Wall Street Journal
"A sweet and powerful study of Whitman's Civil War years."--The Denver Post
"Morris brings us in for a close, often harrowing look at the poet in a moment of national and personal crisis."--Out Magazine
"Exploring a different side of America's war and of the man people consider America's greatest poet, The Better Angel is enlightening reading."--The Winston-Salem Journal
"Morris' study of Whitman in the Civil War is valuable for both literary and historical reasons. It allows us to better understand Whitman as a poet and the trials and experiences of those sick, wounded and dying too often relegated to the background of Civil War study."--The Roanoke Times
"The Better Angel, is both a timely and valuable account of Whitman's four years serving the needs of the crippled and dying in some of the worst field hospitals of the war."--The Long Islander
"Morris...has done his research well....Whitman's sobering wartime experience has been captured in a refined, well-researched book sure to appeal to all those interested in American poetry and the Civil War."--The Civil War News
"Morris's...prose is simple, graceful, and elegant. Together, he and Whitman provide us with an indelible picture of war's terrible wake."--Providence Journal
"Exploring a different side of America's war and of the man people consider America's greatest poet, The Better Angel is enlightening reading."--The Winston-Salem Journal
"In this first full account of Whitman's Civil War years, Morris leaves readers with a new image of what he calls `a great mothering sort of man' who visited the hospitals in and around Washington, D.C. for three years, bringing his charges ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens, and paper; he wrote letters for those who could not, and more than a few died in his arms."--Library Journal
"A thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln."--The New York Times Book Review
"Morris's skills as a researcher are evident and his writing is first rate. Teens can read Better Angel as a moving introduction to Whitman, for its information on the home front and the medical profession during the Civil War, or to gain insight into the sociological and psychological aftermath of the war on individuals or nations."--School Library
"Brilliantly researched and written....An invaluable addition to Whitman scholarship."--Etcetera Magazine
"The Better Angel illuminates Walt Whitman's Civil War years with frankness and compassion. Its insights and compelling narrative afford us new and humanly rich understandings of the poet and his vision of America."-- Robert H. Abzug, author of Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination and Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps
"Roy Morris, Jr.'s elegant and moving book shows how the great civil war that redeemed the nation's soul also reawakened the soul of the nation's greatest poet, Walt Whitman. It is essential reading for everyone who cares about American culture."-- Sean Wilentz, Princeton University, author of Chants Democratic and The Kingdom of Matthias
"This deftly written, almost unbearably moving book serves us to remind us powerfully of the horrors faced by the wounded on the Civil War battlefields, of the genius and compassion of Walt Whitman in dealing with them, and of the remarkable skill of one of America's most accomplished biographers in researching and telling so poignant a story."--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and The Madman
"This pathbreaking study of Whitman's Civil War years reveals more facts--and a greater understanding--of the man than the vain, foppish poet-nurse that too many writers have sought to create."--James I. Robertson, Jr., author of Stonewall Jackson
"A particularly thorough and informative account of the poet's activities during the Civil War."--The Boston Book Review
"Morris brings us in for a close, often harrowing look at the poet in a moment of national and personal crisis. He follows Whitman's descent into hell and reveals how the lifeblood of a nation of young men revitalized and reinvented the 'Good Gay Poet'"--Out Magazine
"The Civil War years were transformative for Walt Whitman, leading him to a new, more direct poetic style. In The Better Anger, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris Jr. presents the first full account of this period in Whitman's life."--Inside Borders
"A thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln."--The New York Times Book Review, Books in Brief
"A sweet and powerful study of Whitman's Civil War years."--The Denver Post
"A balanced, insightful portrait [of] a complex man discovering himself and his poetry through the injured sons of the nation he loved."--American History
"Fascinating.... An artfully told war biography, a narrative of intricate fabric into which the author has sewn details rich with social, military, political, and literary history."--The Washington Times
"Morris endows this episode from the past with the immediacy of contemporary reportage."--The New Yorker
"A moving, detailed work [that] presents a new perspective of a towering literary persona and...a fascinating time in American history."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Exceedingly elegant....A compelling portrait."--The Wall Street Journal

Review Quote

"This pathbreaking study of Whitman's Civil War years reveals morefacts--and a greater understanding--of the man than the vain, foppish poet-nursethat too many writers have sought to create."--James I. Robertson, Jr., authorof Stonewall Jackson

Feature

The first full account of Whitman's Civil War years sheds new light on the man, his poetry, and the treatment of the war's sick and wounded.

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