"Secret Mission, War, Prison and Escape" - this is the name of his book Albert Richardson (1833-1869), a traveler, writer and correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune. Already by name, it is clear what awaits the reader on its pages - an exciting life story of a prominent New York journalist from 1861 to 1865 on the eve and during the bloody Civil War in the United States. This story has everything: beautiful geographical sketches, a secret mission (after all, journalists were also engaged in espionage), portraits of famous generals and US President Abraham Lincoln himself, vivid battle scenes, the nobility of their soldiers, the cruelty of the enemy, historical sketches. And then - captivity, the horrors of the prisons of the South, the inhumanity of the jailers and, finally, escape - original and successful. Richardson talks about all this enthusiastically and in detail, in his tone there is delight, irony, humor, sarcasm and anger. After the first two or three paragraphs, reading captivates. And this is not surprising, because such is the author - energetic, smart and brave spy journalist Albert Dean Richardson.