history and criticism

You would never think of these stories as having been written in the 19th century, but they were. Ambrose Bierce was a Civil War veteran who seems almost to have tried to exorcise the horrors of the war he lived by writing about it. The result is gripping and utterly believable; the style is immediate, you-are-there, not-one-word-too-many. Not the flowery elaborate style you might have associated with Victorian prose.

The results convey the horrors of war as well as anything written in your lifetime. The story about the little boy who gets lost near his home when it is surrounded by a battle...I don't think I'll ever forget it. I won't spoil if for you but you've got to read it. If you think that 130+-year-old stories have nothing to say to you, give these a try, you will see otherwise.

Not to mention the Dover version is NOT EVEN TWO DOLLARS at the time of this writing. You spent more than the price of this book on your coffee this morning, I'll bet. What have you got to lose? Add it to a Supersaver order, there won't even be a shipping charge. Best pocket change you will ever have spent on a book.

Amrose Bierce's Civil War Stories is an excellent and unique book. No, it's not a narrative history like Shelby Foote's or Catton's books; no it's not a biography or autobiography; no, it's not a socio-economic discussion of the causes of the civil war; no, it's not a strategy and tactics book of a particular battle. This book is something altogether different and unique.

It starts with Ambrose Bierce. One, the guy can write, as he was an able journalist and satirist for many years. Two, the guy was there. And it is this combination that makes his stories unique.

Take "What I Saw Of Shiloh", for example. There are no discussions of tactics, no discussions of glory and honor. Only confusion and chaos, shivering wet and cold, unrelenting noise and fear, and gruesome death. Yet through all this, there is a satire and humor that will evoke a smirk from the astute reader.

What is remarkable in itself is a firsthand account of a famous American War, The Civil War, written by a legendary author. It is an old world, almost archaic, style of writing that was difficult for me to read, and to understand the underlying stories. At least one of Ambrose Bierce's classic writings, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek", was produced into a truly amazing Twilight Zone episode. I personally didn't enjoy the book that much, and I don't naturally gravitate to these subject matter type of books, but I bent old attitudes and habits of thinking by reading a page or two a day. I'm glad I bought it and read it.