Another eyewitness account from Straubing, noted for his highly regarded compilations of eyewitness narratives of the Civil War and World War I, this effort focuses on the thoughts and recollections of army physicians and nurses during the Civil War. The accounts range from the numbing surgical notes of a doctor to the forthright concerns of a dedicated nurse and even include some lyric lines from Walt Whitman. However, all accounts have been chosen with care to provide the reader with insight concerning the agony of the sick and wounded and the despair of those attempting to preserve lives under shockingly primitive conditions. Appropriate for general readers and a suitable choice for public and academic libraries.-- Lawrence E. Ellis, Newberry Coll. Lib., S.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Compiler Straubing has done a truly remarkable service in assembling this set of personal perspectives upon medical care in the Civil War. Seven selections are individuals' reports of firsthand experiences--five of them from the North, two from the South; five by surgeons, two by nurses. The remaining three are literary pieces (which also reflect firsthand experiences) by Louisa May Alcott and Walt Whitman and Frederick Law Olmstead on marine hospital transports. All have appeared in print before, but not all are easily accessible nowadays. Besides Olmstead's description of ship transport of the wounded, of particular interest are an account by a New York surgeon of 13 months of forced service in the Confederate army, an excellent behind-the-scenes look at the Army of the Potomac, a collection of detailed case histories, and an account of a nurse's first day; but the other pieces are also first-rate. Straubing's brief introductions to the selections set the stage for them but do not burden the reader with unnecessary details, while the bibliography directs the reader to further material. (Reviewed Feb 15, 1993)0811716317William Beatty