Escape from Andersonville

A Novel of the Civil War

By: Gene Hackman, Daniel Lenihan

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

July 1864. Union officer Nathan Parker has been imprisoned at the nightmarish Andersonville prison camp in Georgia along with his soldiers. As others die around them, Nathan and his men hatch a daring plan to allow him to escape through a tunnel and make his way to Vicksburg, where he intends to alert his superiors to the imprisonment and push for military action. His efforts are blocked by higher-ups in the military, so Parker takes matters into his own hands.

Together with a shady, dangerous ex-soldier and smuggler named Marcel Lafarge and a fascinating collection of cutthroats, soldiers, and castoffs, a desperate Parker organizes a private rescue mission to free his men before it's too late.

Exciting, thoroughly researched, and dramatic, Escape from Andersonville is a Civil War novel filled with action, memorable characters, and vividly realized descriptions of the war's final year.

©2008 Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Thoroughly enjoyed

I've wanted to read this book for some time. I found it on audible and was not disappointed. 5⭐️

Great look at Civil war

A very diverse look at the Civil War and the rescue of prisoners of war.

wow......just wow

Gene Hackman is a talented writer who also happens to be a talented actor. I picked up his PAYBACK AT MORNING PEAK because Gene Hackman wrote it. Great book, good story, so I was expecting the same here. If anything, this one is better: interesting characters, heroic story set in a very unheroic time, and fascinating insights into the nature of leadership.

As a writer myself, I am always interested in the craft, especially with two authors. I'm always wondering where one ends and the other begins. in this book, it was impossible for me to tell.

Great book, great story, great job.

Excellent read.

This is not your ordinary historical fiction. The author takes great pains in fleshing out characters that reflect the humanity that exists and manifests itself in the heroic actions of individual people throughout our entire history. This is not so much a work of fiction as it is a reflection of the best of humanity in the worst of situations. Well done.

A Bold Man in a Bloody War

Although presented as if it were a true story, Escape from Andersonville is, as its subtitle says, a novel of the Civil War. The main character is Nathan Parker, a Union Captain leading a small group of soldiers called Parker's Rangers. Parker and his men are suddenly captured and then taken to Camp Sumter near Andersonville, Georgia, which served as a prisoner of war holding facility for the Confederacy in 1864-65. The prison was overcrowded and filthy, a real hell hole. Captain Parker manages to escape and then lead a quest to free his fellow troops. Before the war, Parker had lived in Boston and was familiar with the writing of Henry David Thoreau, particularly the author's observation: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." In a war where 600,000 men and women perished, there was a lot of despair, and even the triumphs were bittersweet. Parker's story is aptly told and well narrated. I recommend the book for those with an interest in the Civil War and a tolerance for a good deal of violence, blood and death,