The Better Angel

Reviews / Votes

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 Tiems 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 Brillantly researched and written, Morris' book gives a full account of poet Walt Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War years. Through his tireless tending of the sick and wounded, Whitman found his true, compassionate poetic voice, and Morris' examination is an invaluable addition to Whitman scholarship.--ETC, 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