Super Short Summary

Published in 1955, Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor chronicles the harrowing experience of Union soldiers imprisoned in the infamous Andersonville Fortress, a Confederate concentration camp during the American Civil War. Constructed in 1863 on Ira Claffey's Georgia plantation, the camp's appalling conditions lead to widespread suffering and death. Through multiple perspectives—guards, prisoners, and civilians—the novel exposes the depravity and resilience of human spirit amid war. The narrative includes descriptions of extreme suffering, starvation, and disease.