Patriotic Gore

Regarded by many critics as Edmund Wilson's greatest book, Patriotic Gore brilliantly portrays the vast political, spiritual, and material crisis of the Civil War as reflected in the lives and writings of some thirty representative Americans. Critical/biographical portraits of such notable figures as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ambrose Bierce, Mary Chesnut, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Oliver Wendell Holmes prove Wilson to be the consummate witness to the most eloquently recorded era in American history.

As Wilson states in the Introduction (a fascinating glimpse into Wilson's personality and politics), Patriotic Gore deals with about 30 individuals who left a lasting record of their experiences of or involvement in some aspect of the Civil War. Of course, he treats the memoirists, like Grant and Sherman, and the lesser known Mosby and Taylor. Notably, both Grant's and Sherman's memoirs recently have been re-issued by Library of America, both make excellent reading, and Wilson's comments on all are most insightful.

He has a wonderful chapter that more than does justice to Harriet Beecher Stowe and might even drive one to attempt Uncle Tom's Cabin. He also does as much as can be done with John De Forest, George Cable, Sidney Lanier, and a host of lesser lights. As always, Wilson is informed (he seems to have read everything these folks ever wrote), perceptive, entertaining, and skillful in mingling excerpts of his subjects' writing, telling biographical and historical detail, and his own analysis and commentary. The excerpts are especially useful because almost no one will have read much, if anything, by most of these writers. And therein lies the one weakness of the book. Wilson has done a remarkable job. He has reviewed, summarized and made sense out of a generation of writing that today is largely (and, on artistic grounds, often justifiably) ignored, and he has made it all as interesting as possible. To steal a line from another reviewer, he has read it so we don't have to. Actually, this is a little harsh. I enjoyed this book greatly and from it compiled a list of volumes that, given an eternity, I'd like to read, but probably won't. This is a pretty high recommendation. Anyone who loves the writings of Edmund Wilson or exploring original ideas from a wonderful writer will enjoy this book.