Shadows of Blue & Gray

Thomsen is also the editor of Shadows of Blue & Gray: The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce, which collects 27 stories along with some memoirs and reportage by the journalist, writer, literary critic and former Union Army soldier. Famous for their unflinching look at the brutality of the war, the pieces include ""Two Military Executions,"" about the execution and revenge of a young soldier sentenced to death for striking an officer; ""Bivouac of the Dead,"" the classic plea for the recognition of unknown Confederate soldiers in a West Virginia hillside; and ""Four Days in Dixie,"" Bierce's account of his own imprisonment and escape from Confederates in Alabama. ( Mar.)