PW review: During a 39-day period in the spring of 1865, 45,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded. The wounded received the best care available at the time—care that by current standards is horrifying. In this fast-moving and informative book, Rutkow (Surgery: An Illustrated History) recreates the experience of the common Civil War soldier: it "was more sharply defined by agony, butchery, and loneliness than anything else." Simple gunshot wounds necessitated amputation; lack of antiseptics meant more soldiers died from postoperative infection than from their wounds. Communicable diseases ravaged the armies on both sides of the conflict. Rutkow charts the progress of the military medical system during the course of the war, focusing on the struggles (against political opposition) of Sanitary Commission director Frederick Law Olmsted to establish a humane and scientific system of care for the fallen. As Rutkow shows, such medical developments as the construction of hospitals and the specialization of surgery aided in the "professionalization of American medicine." With plenty of historical context, Rutkow's book should appeal beyond hardcore Civil War aficionados to a larger readership interested in a gritty, compelling story well told.

Released in New York City.