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Short Synopsis
Journalist Richard A. Serrano details the mystery surrounding the last two veterans of the Civil War—one real and one a fraud.

Full Synopsis
In the late 1950s, as America prepared for the Civil War centennial, two very old men lay dying. Albert Woolson, 109 years old, slipped in and out of a coma at a Duluth, Minnesota, hospital, his memories as a Yankee drummer boy slowly dimming. Walter Williams, at 117, blind and deaf and bedridden in his daughter's home in Houston, Texas, no longer could tell of his time as a Confederate forage master. The last of the Blue and the Gray were drifting away; an era was ending.

Unknown to the public, centennial officials, and the White House too, one of these men was indeed a veteran of that horrible conflict and one, according to the best evidence, nothing but a fraud. One was a soldier. The other had been living a great, big lie.

"Told with clarity and skillfully paced, Serrano's story of two old men and the mythology that grew up around them is intimate, expansive, and thoroughly entertaining." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"In the Last of the Blue and Gray, [Serrano] has found a hidden gem worthy of his narrative skill." ---James Risen, author of State of War

"This is a great story, easy to read and full of wonderful detail, one that sheds light not only on the past but on our shifting memories of it." ---James Mann, author of The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan

"Miller's easygoing and expressive voice does well in reading both narrative and quotations, for which he sometimes provides a distinct voice or accent." ---AudioFile
Publishers Weekly Review

Last of the Blue and Gray

Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery That Outlived the Civil War

Author Richard A. Serrano

Narrated by Dan John Miller

Publication date Oct 8, 2013

Running time 7 hrs 4 min

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