About this episode

The episode explores the life of Henry Wirz, the only man executed for war crimes after the Civil War, through a single day in August 1864.

In August 1864, thirty thousand Union prisoners were dying behind a wall of felled pine in southern Georgia. The man in command was a Swiss-born captain with a ruined arm, a sick wife back home, and a daughter whose portrait he kept on his writing table. His name was Henry Wirz, and a year later he would be the only man executed for war crimes after the Civil War. "Man or Monster" follows him through a single day. The morning report. The short rations. The chain. The deadline. The letters to a Richmond that never wrote back. No verdict, no villain's speech, just one man doing his duty inside a horror he could name but could not stop, and the question the title leaves with you. From the world of Don McDonald's novel The Line Uncrossed . The book is available at Amazon.com, BN.com, and others booksellers or you can get a special ebook bundle that includes this and two other Civil War stories at donmcdonald.com We are so honored to have been featured by Apple Podcasts as a great source for summer stories. If you don't want to miss our future stories, please Follow or Subscribe. Also, we have over 100 stories in our back catalog. Enough stories to keep you entertained for weeks…

People in this episode

Host: Short Storyverses

Topics covered

• Civil War
• historical fiction
• war crimes
• moral dilemmas
• prisoners of war

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Amazon.com, BN.com, donmcdonald.com

Books & works: Man or Monster, The Line Uncrossed

More episodes of LitReading - Classic Short Stories

• Dark — An Original Short Story by Don McDonald · June 9, 2026 · 26 min
• Miss Brill — A Classic Short Story by Katherine Mansfield · June 2, 2026 · 15 min
• Chickmauga — A Classic Short Story by Ambrose Bierce · May 19, 2026 · 19 min
• The Pen — An Original Civil War Story by Don McDonald · May 12, 2026 · 25 min

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