I picked this book up because like so many others my to passions are baseball and the civil war. Dyja has a wonderful way of creating characters you remeber and learn to care about even with a large cast of characters you have no problem remembering them all. The battle brutal battle scenes are very well done you can almost feel the animalistic survival instincts these men felt specifically the part when they are fighting hand to hand. The baseball scenes are also well done the wording and dialouge are fresh and vivid. This book really puts a human face on the tragedy that is war.