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"This riveting look at the Civil War's horrifying Andersonville prison through the eyes of an 18-year-old inmate has the power to shock and to compel...a tension-filled story packed with appalling events that really happened...This engrossing novel leaves an enduring impression." (Kirkus Reviews)
After the older brother he worshipped is killed in battle, Jake Clay joins the Union Army in the spring of 1864, determined to do his bit and honor his brother's death. His dreams of glory vanish, however, when he is wounded and taken prisoner in his first battle at Cold Harbor, Virginia, and confined to the Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, where 30,000 soldiers face violence, disease and starvation. Frightened and disillusioned, Jake takes up with Billy Sharp, an unscrupulous opportunist who shows him how to survive, no matter what the cost. By the war's end Jake's sleep is haunted by the ghosts of those who have died so he could live. When the camp is liberated, Jake and Billy head north on the Mississippi riverboat Sultana, overcrowded far beyond its capacity. Unknown to Jake, the fateful journey up river will come closer to killing him than Andersonville did, but it will also provide him with his one chance at redemption.
"...this is a thoughtful, provocative work." (Booklist 2009-10-15)
"[Wilson] has captured the struggles of young soldiers faced with making impossible choices in order to survive in war...Wilson's gripping descriptions of bloody battles, abominable prison conditions, and man's inhumanity to man will capture the imagination of readers." (Resource Links)
"Wilson paints an engrossing picture of the brutal life of these soldiers" (Quill & Quire)
"This book does a great job of depicting the horrors of war...The accuracy of the story is amazing, the characters are well-developed, and the plot is engaging. Readers who like historical fiction, war stories, and survival books will all enjoy reading Death on the River." (TeensReadToo.com)
"A well-written book that will provide the reader with an understanding [and] insight into the perils of war...Recommended." (Tri State YA Book Review Committee)
"Illustrates very well that under circumstances like these, there are no easy, "good" choices, and it avoids casting "good" and "bad" around North/South lines...The depiction of the harsh life of a prison camp is accurate and worth a read." (CCYAB Book Notes)
The Caught in Conflict Collection is an imprint of fast-paced, historically accurate, morally-complex quick reads for Adults and Teens. In each of the titles the main character(s) (a Roman Legionary; a civilian in the Indian Mutiny; volunteers on both sides of the American Civil War; a Scottish soldier in WWI; a holidaymaker in Spain when the civil war breaks out there; and German and Russian soldiers in WWII), become enmeshed in conflicts immensely more complex than they anticipated and are faced with moral dilemmas that they never even imagined. The historical background to each of the dramas is extensively researched and the moral dilemmas are common to all human conflict.
