AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Daring and Suffering by William Pittenger, Alexander Clark ISBN: 1-58218-076-8 Publisher: Digital Scanning Inc Pub. Date: November, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (3 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: A Classic
Comment: Daring and Suffering is the most easily accessible first hand account of Andrews Raid. While it is clearly biased toward the Union, it is understandable since it was written after Pittenger has spent almost a year in several Southern jails, including Libby Prision. Although Pittneger wrote endlessly about the raid, some of his later writings are worth looking at; such as Twenty-five Years After: A Supplement to Daring and Suffering; and the more definitive In Pursuit of The General: A History of the Civil War Railroad Raid. By the time he wrote In Pursuit he was able to give a more balanced and complete view of the events. The other participants also wrote about the raid, but they are mostly in the form of newspaper articles. Scholars since Pittenger have been busy researching the raid, with notable authors including Parlee Grose, Joe Head, Wilbur Kurtz and several authors listed in Amazon.com. This fascinating event in the countries history has been the topic of three movies, and many intersting books - including this one.

Rating: 2
Summary: Fascinating but flawed tale by a participant.
Comment: Pittenger's Daring and Suffering is an interesting but flawed tale of the Great Locomotive Chase by one of the Ohio soldiers who participated--and survived. He describes in fascinating detail the journey deep into the Confederacy, snatching the train, the subsequent pursuit, and the long ordeal in various jails and prisons. Particularly vivid is his telling of the sudden execution of seven of his fellow raiders, and the subsequent emotional shock of the survivors.

For modern readers, Pittenger's book has some flaws. The Union soldiers are, almost exclusively, brave, stoic warriors who endure hardship and death with manly fortitude. The Confederates, for the most part, are drunken, illiterate,cruel louts, the only good ones being those who secretly profess no interest in who wins the war. The portraits are so consistent that one suspects there is more of parody here than portrait. It must be kept in mind, also, that this book was published in 1863, shortly after Pittenger's release, so he did not have answers to some of the questions that come to mind as you read: why were some of the Raiders executed, and so abruptly, and not the others? Why was their exchange delayed for months after arrival in Richmond? Why were they so ill prepared (if his description is correct the planning and preparation for their mission was most casual by modern standards)?

Still, the book has some merit, particularly in the descriptions of prison life, and the monotony of diet and daily life faced by Civil War captives.

Rating: 5
Summary: fascinating...stupendous...
Comment: Very interesting and moving adventure story. Great job by digital scanning on creating the cd rom. A must have for those interested in the development of our country.