bcarneiro

this book is neither exhaustive nor eloquent. in fact, the narrative is plain and straightforward, but the story it tells is absolutely and profoundly heartbreaking. through Angelo Crapsey's letters, diary, and a host of depositions from his pension inquiries, you see his horrifying degeneration into despair and self-destruction. And all the while his family and friends scratch their heads and helplessly watch him fall to pieces: scratching at phantom lice, flying into violent fits, withdrawing into protracted silences, rambling incoherently, paranoia, loss of appetite, moments of strange lucidity, and all the while making attempts on his life until he finally succeeds ~ all symptoms of what we now recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder. there are very few references to the psychological effects of the Civil War on its combatants (something that has always been a source of fascination to me personally). mental illness was little understood and shameful for those who experienced it. while the Union kept some record of wartime suicides, it's impossible to know how many veterans on either side died after the fact as a result of deliberately self-destructive behavior. brandt does well to organize the material and facilitate our understanding of the story from Angelo's enlistment (too young, but managing with a lie, like many boys then), through his imprisonment, his return to battle already unfit for duty, and his eventual collapse and hospitalization in an asylum. But even brandt, ultimately can't make much more of it than what's baldy there: the boy was severely damaged. he went to war young and idealistic and never really came back at all. if he had more support and less condemnation when he got home, would he have made it? impossible to tell. at just a little over 200 pages, this book is a quick read, but a very painful one. not recommended if you're in a funk.

2023-07-29 19:23