Rating: 
Summary: Treasure of American History
Review: I read Sneden's account while at the same time studying a history from the Confederacy viewpoint - an excellent way to absorb his story. Overall, I appreciated the detail to which this survivalist wrote and am inspired by his illustrations to tour the Virginia countryside and read every historical marker available.Sneden maintains a predominantly factual tone with little mention of personal thoughts. He vividly describes the hardships that his fellow inmates endured but he does not extend mention to the toll that those hardships must have taken on him. Sneden seemed unfeeling, intelligent and quite arrogant, which undoubtedly enabled him to witness first-hand so many crucial historical moments and to ultimately survive. From an historical perspective, Sneden's insights on Union decisions that resulted in battle losses were right on target. He apparently had a strong 'war-sense' making this read informative from a tactical view as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Be skeptical of Sneden
Review: I second most of the favorable comments Eye of the Storm has received. Sneden's prose is more than adequate, and his illustrations are often fascinating. The editors have also done their job well, and they play fair with the reader by pointing out Sneden's errors and lapses of memory where evidence survives. Nevertheless, this nicely produced volume left me cold, largely because of the personality of the author. What is one to make of a fellow who criticizes grave robbers and then uses an infant's skull as a soap dish or denounces those who collaborate with the enemy and then does so himself? The English language has a number of unpleasant words for this sort of behavior. I don't trust Sneden. In this memoir posing as a diary, the author exhibits remarkable foresight about the outcome of events. Given the proven errors of the manuscript as well as the author's plagiarism of published sources, readers should retain a good deal of skepticism about the author's prophetic powers. Finally, Sneden's prose is emotionally flat. He can describe battlefield carnage with the appropriate words, but he seems strangely detached from the event. At the conclusion of battles, his first thought seems to be rousting up a meal, and he's not embarrassed to tell the reader so. If Sneden ever mourned a friend, I missed it. In fact, one wonders whether he had any friends. Sneden's invective against the enemy also seems conventional and hackneyed. What Sneden seems to have believed in his heart of hearts was that he was superior to the ordinary run of mortals, soldier or officer, Union or Confederate. That would explain why, despite gifts as both a writer and an illustrator, Sneden's post-war existence is traced largely through querulous letters about his pension and why this manuscript lay forgotten so long until its spiritual deadness became 'modern.'
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!
Review: I've read all of the standards--Catton, Foote, McPhearson, Freeman, etc. I've read some first hand journals as well, such as Grant's memoirs, Mary Chestnut, Jefferson Davis, etc. What I haven't ever encountered before is someone who has both the enlisted man's take on the penninsular campaign and Andersonville with the access to the generals Sneden seems to have had. In one paragraph he's getting dragged through the mud hanging from the back of a wagin, and then in the next he's privy to a meeting between Hooker, Kearny, and Heintzelman. The journal from inside Andersonville is priceless by itself! But there's also the Penninsular Campaign and the early part of the war. Then add to this Sneden's watercolors and you have a unique source that brings the day-to-day activities of the Civil War home like no other book I've ever read. Buy this book, it's one of the best ground-level views of the Civil War I've ever encountered.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful overview of the war and Andersonville
Review: If you are a student of the Civil War and have found compelling naratives of Andersonville missing....this book is a must read. While the book deals with Andersonville only in the last half, it is a wonderful narrative of the average soldiers life before and during that inhuman prison camp. This book and its illustrations are, simply, a must read. I was given a copy as a gift, and am now buying copies to give as gifts. The truly wonderful part of this book is the truly "average" nature of the human, Robert Sneden. He was you and I living the hell of the Civil War. Buy this book now.
Rating:
Summary: The illustrated diary/memoirs of a Civil War Union soldier
Review: In 1994 the Virginia Historical Society acquired four tattered scrapbook albums containing some five hundred Civil War watercolor drawings and maps, which eventually led to the discovery of a 5,000 page illustrated diary/memoir, all the work of Union private Robert Knox Sneden. Joining the 40th New York Volunteers after the fall of Sumter, Sneden was appointed a topographical engineer for the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac because of his talent for sketching. Sneden survived the Battle of the Seven Days and the second battle of Bull Run, but was captured by John Mosby on November 26, 1863. As a prisoner of war he was sent first to Richmond's Libby Prison and then moved south the Rebel prison at Salisbury, and then to the infamous prison camp at Andersonville. Keeping his diary and sketches secret, Sneden created the only fully illustrated account of life inside Andersonville. After he was released, Sneden returned to Washington, where he corrected by hand the notation in his service record that said "missing, believed dead." Only a few of his illustrations were published in his lifetime, with many of his works covering the Peninsula Campaign destroyed in a fire. He would die alone in an old soldier's home in 1918, his family unaware of the legacy he had left behind in those four scrapbooks. Editors Charles F. Bryan, Jr. and Nelson D. Lankford have presented one-third of the original text and about one-tenth of the watercolors in "Eye of the Storm." Focusing on Sneden's first hand experiences in the war, they omitted sections where he talked about the war in general or used secondary accounts to fill in gaps in the war. The editors also avoided using multiple watercolors of the same subject, but included Sneden's own legends and identifying labels for his remarkable artwork. "Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey" is a remarkable find and even those with only a passing interest in the Civil War will be fascinated with its paintings and recollections. Those of us who are more preoccupied with this particular subject will recognize this book to be an absolute treasure and a necessary volume in their Civil War collection. This book is a fitting counterpart to such established classics as Grant's memoirs and the photographs of Matthew Brady.
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Civil War Memoir
Review: Private Robert Sneden of the 40th New York Volunteers was trained in architecture and engineering and assigned to make detailed maps of the unknown terrain being traversed by the Union Army. This assignment gave him unusual freedom to roam the areas and battlefields to which he was assigned. Fortunately he kept a daily journal and made well drawn sketches and watercolor paintings as he went. The book covers the period from September 29, 1861, shortly after he joined McClellan's army encamped at Leesburg, Virginia, to December 26, 1864, when he was finally reunited with his family. With an artist's eye for detail and a surprisingly deft ability with the English language, Sneden provides the reader with some of the most memorable descriptions, watercolor colors of scenes, and eyewitness accounts ever published on the Civil War. Sneden's experiences can broadly be divided into two major periods. The first general section of his journal concerns the events connected with McClellan's move toward the botched siege of Yorktown, Virginia, and ends with the bloody battles of the 7 Day's War in which Lee attacked the Union forces at Mechanicsville and forced the ensuing retreat. Sneden's almost matter-of-fact descriptions of the fighting, confusion, carnage, small unit movements, individual heroism, death, and destruction are powerful and moving. The second general section of Sneden's journal concerns the events leading up to his capture by Mosby's Confederate cavalry, his internment first in Richmond and finally at the infamous Andersonville, and his eventual release and reunion with his family. No brief review could possibly do justice to the descriptions of the inhumanity displayed at these prison facilities. Sneden's accounts are strong, detailed, and painful to read. I highly recommend this book. It is a book which belongs in the collection of anyone interested in United States history and the Civil War in particular.
Rating: 
Summary: "Platoon," Civil War Style
Review: Remember that movie, "Platoon," a few years back? You know, the one about the infantry platoon that, in about three months time, fights every major engagement ever fought in the ten years the United States was in Viet Nam. The story is told through the eyes of its protagonist, a college drop out named "Chris." Well, that's what you get with "Eye of the Storm," the "genuine" diary of an infantry grunt who seems to be involved in virtually everything of importance, only this time the venue is the American Civil War. The "diary" itself is entirely derivative of so many others, and one has to wonder when it was written and by whom. Its content adds virtually nothing new to the body information on the War, and its illustrations are nothing beyond the ordinary. If readers are interested in buying a genuine account that will make a fine addition to their library, they should start with Sam Watkins' "Company Aytch." It is the finest first person account to come out of the War. Books such as "Eye of the Storm" are slickly packaged, and heavily marketed, and they take advantage of the Civil War community. In the end, what buyers have is a tired rehash of facts, myths, and drudgery. What a waste of money!
Rating:
Summary: Story weaving war, art, incredible Civil War sojourn.
Review: Robert Sneden served as a map maker during the early years of the Civil War, and finished his war in the Andersonville prison camp. Recent discoveries of his drawings and diary have allowed this book to be published. The story is breath taking, a personal sojourn through the mud and battle of America's great tradgedy. The book is well edited. Brief italicized passages place the reader within the context of the battles and time. Sneden spent most of his time as a staff member at the Division and Corp levels, allowing him to see a wider view of the war than most. He drew maps, but he also drew many sketches. These provide a visual beauty to the book. The water colors were obviously created after the war, and the diary entries were also updated from memory. His style as an artist is horizontal, with landscapes and muted muddy colors and great details, a map maker who draws the world around him. Sneden was an interesting man, with some bigotries, and some brilliant insights. His frustration with the generalship of the Army of the Potomac is shared by the reader. His description of prison life in Andersonville reminds me of the book King Rat, and is both evocative, realistic, and saddening. The wealth of detail is incredible -- early balloon experiments, the frustrations of mud, dysentery, and nature, and the incredible rapaciousness of the average soldier (digging up church cornerstones in search of souvenirs). Thse details are fascinating, but they are encapsulated within a story of great scope -- one man's war that mirrors the entire Civil War. Sneden was an artist, a good commentator, and he got around. The result is a true story, fascinating for both the civil war buff and the average reader. A tremendous book.
Rating: 
Summary: Regarding authenticity
Review: Sneden's memoir and watercolors comprise a remarkable document of a soldier's life in the Union army. A previous reviewer questioned the collection's authenticity for a number of reasons that I didn't find accurate. Sneden's memoir does not indicate that he was at every major battle of the war, nor that he met every major general. He was a cartographer in the Peninsular Campaign, and thus was in contact with the generals (who naturally had an interest in maps) at those battles. Likewise, his role as a mapmaker would explain his access to materials, though as the preface indicates, Sneden probably quickly sketched most of his battle scenes and colored them in later. As for the the word "virus," the OED indicates that it was used as early as 1728 to refer to disease contagion.
Rating:
Summary: Great Primary Source Material
Review: The finding of primary source material is of great value in the field of history as it can give us a glimpse into the past through actual eyewitnesses. This book gives us a chance to see the American Civil War through the eyes of Robert Sneden of the 40th New York Regiment. His skills as a cartographer produced some remarkable depictions of some of the battlefields, land features and prison scenes that alone are worth studying. As the compilers of this book stated, his memoirs and drawings were quite substantial.
Sneden's observations offer us a glimpse into camp life (though he was spared most of the front line activity), some of the personalities of the war, the unfolding events of battle and perhaps most descriptive of all, life in the numerous prisons he stayed in, including those in Richmond, Salisbury (though briefly), and Andersonville. Once again it is his remarkable sketches and drawings of these places that capture our attention, though of course his written descriptions can be quite vivid and detailed, especially concerning some of the gruesome features of battle and prison life.
Sneden wasn't so much writing a history as he was detailing his day to day activities and observations during his time of service and captivity during the war. But it is these types of accounts that can offer new insights into historic events that we otherwise may never have known about and in Sneden's case especially his drawings. Of course even these types of sources need to be carefully scrutinized for factual errors as well.
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