The Long Road to Gettysburg

April 20, 1992
Excerpts from the diaries of two young officers, Lt. John Dooley of the Confederacy and Cpl. Thomas Galway of the Union army, are at the heart of this compelling account of the Civil War's bloodiest battle. Expertly blending details about the battle and each side's plans with the diaries, Murphy conveys all of the tension, tedium and excitement of the battlefield. Archival photographs of the site powerfully present young readers with a grim reminder of the high cost of waging this conflict. Several photos show dead horses and soldiers, their bodies not yet removed for burial. The conclusion explains what happened to the young officers after the war was over, neatly tying up the end of the book and making these men from long ago even more real to today's readers. Ages 9-12.

The dedication ceremony of the national cemetery at Gettysburg sets the scene as Murphy weaves actual diary entries of two young officers, one Union and one Confederate, with battle details to create a compelling re-creation of the bloodiest battle of our nations's bloodiest war. The three narrators, Ray Childs, Terry Bregy, and William Dufris, do an admirable job of communicating the boredom of the wait juxtaposed with the terror of the combat as the Irish-American Cpl. Thomas Galway and the Virginian Lt. John Dooley record the battle from their unique perspectives. Sound effects give a "you-are-there" feel to the listening experience. A return to the dedication ceremony, including a recitation of Lincoln's address, and information about Galway and Dooley's postwar lives round out the program. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

August 1, 2010

Gr 6 Up-Balancing tactical and historical descriptions of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War with the firsthand diary accounts of two young soldiers, one Union and one Confederate, Jim Murphy's title (Clarion, 1992) is solidly narrated by Ray Childs, Terry Bregy, and William Dufris, each lending his talent to a different section of the text. The use of different voice actors for the narration is especially effective in helping listeners differentiate the Union and Confederate points of view, with snippets of snare drum music separating the passages to further reinforce the shifts in viewpoint. Another narrator reads the introduction and conclusion, which describe the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg and includes Lincoln's famous address. Key figures are quoted and given distinct voices, some more successfully than others. Listeners will get a sense of the emotion, pain, and fatigue experienced by the two soldiers through the performances, though occasionally the voice used for Galway, the Union corporal, sounds too similar to the narrative voice, making it difficult to differentiate the diary excerpts from the exposition. Overall, this is a worthwhile addition to non-fiction audiobook collections.-Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL

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