For anyone interested in the Civil War I highly reccomend this book. There are literally thousands of books on the Civil War but most of them focus on the political or military side. This book focuses on the aftermath of the battle, something that is overlooked by many historians. The reader will get a whole new perspective on the impact the War had on areas where armies clashed. Anyone even remotely interested in the Civil War should pick this book up. For those of you who have weak stomachs, do not read the book after a meal.

Greg Coco's "A Strange and Blighted Land" is, as far as I know, a uniquely intimate and yet comprehensive look at the aftermath of Civil War combat. The Battle of Gettysburg left 6000 soldiers dead on the ground (with thousands more to later die of their wounds) and 20,000 seriously wounded. When the two great armies that had fought there marched away, the dead and the wounded remained in and around Gettysburg, creating a horror worthy of an inner circle of Dante's Hell. This is an unflinching look at the days, weeks, and months that followed. I see that a previous, anonymous reviewer at this site complained about the "author's incesant anti-war sermonizing." To the contrary, I consider that Coco did little "sermonizing". Rather, he lets the eyewitnesses speak for themselves, quoting liberally from a vast array of primary sources. The result is a powerful, fact-packed book that is certainly grim, even gruesome, and far removed from the conventional romanticing and glamourization of the very deadly consequences of genuine 19th century warfare. I think that anyone who finds him- or herself thinking back to the supposed glory of Civil War battle where everyone dies heroically and cleanly should read Coco's book as a strong antidote against such a false picture.

The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) was the largest ever fought on the American continent and the pivotal battle of our Civil War. Following the battle, with the retreat of Lee's Army and the pursuit by Meade's, there was a pressing need to take care of the dead, wounded, and destroyed that the armies left in their wake. There also was, and remains, a need to reflect upon the significance of the Battle and the lessons to be learned from it.

Gregory Coco's book, "A Strange and Blighted Land" (1995) gives a comprehensive account of the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg. Mr. Coco is a Park Ranger at Gettysburg, and he hasa written extensively and well about the battle. He is also a Vietnam veteran. His history in this book stresses eloquently, the carnage of war, its terrors and pain, and its irreplaceable cost in human life and treasure.

The book is arranged in five rather lengthy chapters. In the first chapter, Mr. Coco offers his readers a tour of the Battlefield in which he presents eyewitness accounts of the death and destruction evident over the 25 mile square Battlefield. The second chapter discusses the dead of Gettysburg and their burials. There is excellent historical material here about the establishment of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. In his next chapter, Mr. Coco discusses the Gettysburg wounded, both North and South, the medical and surgical practices of the day, and the camps set up in haste to care for the masses of grievously wounded soldiers. In his fourth chapter, Mr. Coco discusses the treatment of prisoners of war, and the fate of the many stragglers and deserters which followed in the wake of the battle. In his final chapter, Mr. Coco discusses preservation efforts for the Battlefield, culminating in the establishment of the Gettysburg National Military Park in 1895.

I have read several other accounts of the aftermath of Gettysburg. Mr. Coco's book is by far the most thorough. He has the factual details at his command and presents them in a convincing manner. He shows great familiarity with the Battle itself, and discusses well the controversies and issues in determining the numbers of the killed, wounded, and missing.

But there is much more to this book than a factual recounting of the aftermath of a battle. The book is written in an appealing, personal, sometimes buttonholing style in which Mr. Coco seems to be at the readers side offering observations and commentary on the significance of the events set forth in his story. He offers opinions on a variety of topics emanating from his reflections on Gettysburg and on war. (Specifically, Mr. Coco shows a healthy skepticism in matters of religion.) Mr. Coco focuses on the meaning to be drawn from Gettysburg and from our Civil War. His own perspective is clear. Mr. Coco is opposed to efforts to glorify or romanticize war. Again and again, he stresses the horrors of war and tries to impress upon his readers that the greatest lesson to be learned from Gettysburg is -- to try to prevent such things from happening. Thus his book concludes (p.373)

"Let us now leave behind the aftermath story with this hope: that for each and every attempt to parade the 'pomp and circumstance' of war, we give equal time to the corrupt and merciless monster shielded smugly within, because, 'if the bugler starts to play, we too must dance.'"

This book is both an excellent history and a deeply-felt attempt to think about the meaning of Gettysburg.

This book isn't about the battle of Gettysburg. It's about the price that was paid for that battle by the men who fought it and the citizens of the town. The aftermath of Gettysburg was a nightmare beyond imagination.

After the guns fell silent Coco shows us that there was much to do. Thousands of dead soldiers needed to be buried and tens of thousands of wounded to be treated. How do you do all that? The truth is you can't, at least not very well. In the end many bodies were buried in shallow graves that didn't take long to get uncovered by the elements. Some bodies were simply dumped into the crevasses in Devil's Den. The wounded in many cases were left outside for no other reason than you had over ten times as many wounded as you had population in Gettysburg and there simply wasn't enough room indoors for all the wounded men. Toss in countless horses whose corpses needed to be gathered up and burned and you begin to get the picture. The aftermath of Gettysburg was a gruesome horror story.

This book is not for the casual or beginning Civil War reader. There's nothing about infantry charges and military tactics here. Coco doesn't hold back and to be honest the book is rather disturbing. However it tells the story that I don't think any other book does and that's the frank truth about the aftermath of Gettysburg.

After the shooting stopped at Gettysburg, within a very short time the whole landscape had turned black from the flies spawned in the bodies of the fallen. The earth was soiled and black with grease and filth and the very air was heavy with foulness.

This is not a book for the faint-hearted, but it is a superbly well-researched account, drawn from eyewiteness statements and official documents of what happened when nearly 10 000 dead and two or three times that many wounded were left in a quiet farming community by armies that had gone elsewhere.

This is essential reading for anybody wishing to know the whole story of Gettysburg. It has many maps and illustrations and photographs not seen elsewhere, and a comprehensive set of notes.

After the shooting stopped at Gettysburg, within a very short time the whole landscape had turned black from the flies spawned in the bodies of the fallen. The earth was soiled and black with grease and filth and the very air was heavy with foulness.

This is not a book for the faint-hearted, but it is a superbly well-researched account, drawn from eyewiteness statements and official documents of what happened when nearly 10 000 dead and two or three times that many wounded were left in a quiet farming community by armies that had gone elsewhere.

This is essential reading for anybody wishing to know the whole story of Gettysburg. It has many maps and illustrations and photographs not seen elsewhere, and a comprehensive set of notes.

A definate contribution to capturing the history of the aftermath of the battle at Gettysburg. The amount of details, statistics and facts along with eye witness accounts make this probably the best book on the subject. This is a must read for those interested in Gettysburg as so much more happened after the battle. The content written in this book offer a shocking reality to the absolute horrors which occured in Gettysburg in 1863.

Coco's view on the darker side of Gettysburg is brilliant. He picks up when the shooting stops. His description of what it was like in the days, months and even years after this battle was very interesting. He spares no details and his desciptions of wounded and dead are shocking. He also brings to light the darker side of Adams County civillians in their treatment of wounded soldiers. Although there were many heroic and merciful civillians, Coco brings to light the ones who were not so. This is a great human interest story and sheds a different light on one of the most discussed battles in human history.

A fascinating study of a rare Civil War topic! Carefully researched and detailed, a must study for those who tend to glorify a brutal event. One serious detraction is the writer's peculiar use of his study as a stump to blast Christianity, saying that this "particular brand of religious myth had not really taken hold of society." He goes on to question the origin of the Christian cross and the existence of the soul. Coco needlessly attempts to diminish the important role religious faith played among Civil War soldiers, especially among Confederates. Also, it would have been helpful to have seen some comparative discussion about other Civil War battlefields, especially in the South (where most battles were fought), where the resources to clean up were, in comparison, far lacking. Otherwise it is a must read, and should serve as a model for further writings on the subject.

I have always been interested in what happens after the armies stop fighting and march on. Who is left behind; who cares for them; what does it look like; what does it smell like; what does it do to a community? Gregory Coco brings the reader as close as one can get to the horrors of war. I searched for a book like this for a long time, and during one trip to Gettysburg I found it. I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Coco a couple of years ago. He is a tremendous historian, an unbelievable storyteller, and a very nice person. He is a seasonal Park Ranger at Gettysburg, and I suggest that anybody who goes out there in the spring or summer find Mr. Coco and tag along on one of his presentations.

This is a very good book, well researched, but the author's incesant anti-war sermonizing gets old fast. A wounded veteran from Vietnam, Coco obviously has a few lingering issues to work out, but he should have done so with his therapist and not in the pages of this book. One wonders why if he is so anti-war he writes about the Civil War at all. Perhaps he feels guilty about his own morbid fascination with the most gruesome aspects of Gettysburg. After a while the reader wishes that the author would get off his soapbox and just report the facts.