Average customer rating:
- Civil War: historical fiction
- A fragmented soap opera
- Very readable.
- Character vignettes, but depth
- A Story of the Effect of War on the Participant
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The March: A Novel
E.L. Doctorow
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
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Binding: Paperback
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Doctorow, E.L.
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ASIN: 0812976150
Release Date: 2006-09-12 |
Amazon.com
As the Civil War was moving toward its inevitable conclusion, General William Tecumseh Sherman marched 60,000 Union troops through Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving a 60-mile-wide trail of death, destruction, looting, thievery and chaos. In The March, E.L. Doctorow has put his unique stamp on these events by staying close to historical fact, naming real people and places and then imagining the rest, as he did in Ragtime.
Recently, the Civil War has been the subject of novels by Howard Bahr, Michael Shaara, Charles Frazier, and Robert Hicks, to name a few. Its perennial appeal is due not only to the fact that it was fought on our own soil, but also that it captures perfectly our long-time and ongoing ambivalence about race. Doctorow examines this question extensively, chronicling the dislocation of both southern whites and Negroes as Sherman burned and destroyed all that they had ever known. Sherman is a well-drawn character, pictured as a crazy tactical genius pitted against his West Point counterparts. Doctorow creates a context for the march: "The brutal romance of war was still possible in the taking of spoils. Each town the army overran was a prize... There was something undeniably classical about it, for how else did the armies of Greece and Rome supply themselves?"
The characters depicted on the march are those people high and low, white and black, whose lives are forever changed by war: Pearl, the newly free daughter of a white plantation owner and one of his slaves, Colonel Sartorius, a competent, remote, almost robotic surgeon; several officers, both Union and Confederate; two soldiers, Arly and Will, who provide comic relief in the manner of Shakespeare's fools until, suddenly, their roles are not funny anymore.
Doctorow has captured the madness of war in his description of the condition of a dispossessed Southern white woman: "What was clear at this moment was that Mattie Jameson's mental state befitted the situation in which she found herself. The world at war had risen to her affliction and made it indistinguishable." And later, " This was not war as adventure, nor war for a solemn cause, it was war at its purest, a mindless mass rage severed from any cause, ideal, or moral principle."
As we have come to expect, Doctorow puts the reader in the picture; never more so than in recalling "The March" and letting us see it as a cautionary tale for our times. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“E. L. Doctorow [is] always astonishing. . . . In The March, he dreams himself backward from The Book of Daniel to Ragtime to The Waterworks to the Civil War, into the creation myth of the Republic itself, as if to assume the prophetic role of such nineteenth-century writers as Emerson, Melville, Whitman, and Poe.”–John Leonard, Harper’s
In 1864, Union general William Tecumseh Sherman marched his sixty thousand troops through Georgia to the sea, and then up into the Carolinas. The army fought off Confederate forces, demolished cities, and accumulated a borne-along population of freed blacks and white refugees until all that remained was the dangerous transient life of the dispossessed and the triumphant. In E. L. Doctorow’s hands the great march becomes a floating world, a nomadic consciousness, and an unforgettable reading experience with awesome relevance to our own times.
“An Iliad-like portrait of war as a primeval human affliction . . . [welds] the personal and the mythic into a thrilling and poignant story.”
–Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“Splendid . . . carries us through a multitude of moments of wonder and pity, terror and comedy . . . with an elegiac compassion and prose of a glittering, swift-moving economy.” –John Updike, The New Yorker
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Praise for E. L. Doctorow
“E.L. Doctorow is a national treasure.”
–
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Beautifully written, meticulously plotted, scrupulously imagined.”
–
The New York Times Book Review, about Sweet Land Stories
“In the assured hands of Doctorow, City of God blooms with a humor and a humanity that carries triumphant as intelligent a novel as one might hope to find these days.”
–
Los Angeles Times, about City of God
“A ferocious feat of the imagination . . . Every scene is perfectly realized and feeds into the whole–the themes and symbols echoing and reverberating.”
–
Newsweek, about The Book of Daniel
“One devours it in a single sitting.”
–
The New York Times, about Ragtime
“Marvelous . . . You get lost in World’s Fair as if it were an exotic adventure. You devour it with the avidity usually provoked by a suspense thriller.”
–The New York Times, about World’s Fair
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Civil War: historical fiction.......2007-08-24
This was an excellant depiction of life as it may have been seen at the time of the Civil War, and most particularly during Sherman's march thru the south. The use of fictional characters gave the story a vibrancy and realism that probably could not have been portrayed thru fact alone. My book club loved it, and, we rarely all love the same book.
A fragmented soap opera.......2007-08-23
A psuedo-romance novel set inside Sherman's march to the sea and beyond. The disjoined story lines lead to a fragmented novel that reads like the script from a daytime TV soap opera. There is little historical insight or significance; in fact, quite the opossite, with the fabrication of events that didn't happen(assination attempts of Sherman??). Not recommended for fans of the civil war.
Very readable........2007-08-03
"The March" is a very readable account of Sherman's march through the South at the end of the civil war. The focus is on what it meant for the soldiers and civilians, not the politics or the strategy. At the same time, the characters are well drawn as individuals. Doctorow maintains an emotional distance from the horrors; while the reader is made aware of them, none of the characters followed as individuals in the novel starve, or suffer unbearable pain (one Southern woman is driven to the edge of madness, and several die). There are some powerful passages, but for the most part the writing does not draw attention to itself. It captures the March in a book of modest size, has interesting sub-plots, and I would highly recommend it. For a very different, but very good and more powerful take on a March, read Patrick Rambauds "The Retreat", on Napolean's retreat from Moscow.
Character vignettes, but depth.......2007-07-22
I'd echo the well-written review from Debra Crosby, but acknowledge that the book is a departure from normal form. It is not a traditional plot-driven novel and it is not really about Sherman's march. Instead, it is a collection of character vignettes, with "The March" the unifying thread.
There are a lot of characters, and it can take some time to get oriented. However, I believe Doctorow manages to create depth in each character despite each character being dedicated fewer pages than in a typical novel. Occasionally I felt like a character disappeared from the book before I expected, but this was a mild distraction because there were so many other characters to latch onto.
The novel is powerful, and in no event sanitizes the Civil War. You cannot read the book without wondering what it must have been like for north and south, civilian and soldier, black and white.
There is a fair amount of military strategy. Hard core Civil War buffs (e.g., fans of Shelby Foote) will not find enough detail regarding troop movements to satisfy them. I've read Foote's three-part Civil War narrative, but I would not describe myself as hard core. In my view, there is just enough to make it real without distracting from the characters. If you despise descriptions of "flanking maneuvers" and cavalry, however, there may be too much here for you. Of course, that's probably going to be true with respect to any historical fiction centered around a war.
Doctorow is a talented writer. If you are looking for a repeat of Ragtime or World's Fair (one of my favorite books), you will likely be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a well-written, sophisticated novel that evokes the power of civil war through several characters, I believe you will be happy with your read.
A Story of the Effect of War on the Participant.......2007-06-09
This is E L Doctorow's fictionalized story of "Sherman's March to the Sea". In late 1864 Sherman was give command of the 60,000 man 'Army of the West' and told to march through the heart of the Confederacy and bring it to its' knees. Sherman did just that by marching through Atlanta Georgia, Savannah and Columbia South Carolina and up through North Carolina through Raleigh to the Virginia border. Along the way his men foraged through the countryside while destroying cotton, railroads and anything else of use to the CSA.
Our story follows groups of people, including Sherman and his command as they travel through the South, we learn about the battles they fought and the losses they suffered. Along the way we also follow a rebel deserter, a freed slave (who can pass for white), an Irish volunteer from NYC (who is really a replacement for a wealthy man who paid him $300), an Army surgeon, the daughter of a southern Judge, and others.
Doctorow does a find job in presenting the death and destruction that was rained on the South by Sherman but he also give a human face to the people who fought and died for their convictions. He never misses a chance to make the Civil War as bloody as it was, nor does he ever put a shining smile on those who were in Slavery.
How true to life his description of Sherman is, is up to debate, but he makes the man human and though he was 'Uncle Billy' to the men who served under him and idolized him. He talks about how the pain of sending men to their death is never easy but is a trade-off for ending the War as fast as possible. The most startling thing that Doctorow found in his research was that Sherman, Confederate General Hardy and President Lincoln all lost sons named Willie during the war; one in battle (Hardy) and the other two to disease. All of them were under seventeen years of age.
The March shows that war is not a pleasant diversion and spending your days killing other men is not the 'glorious' ideal it is sometimes made out to be (just ask any combat veteran).
Customer Reviews:
A look at 'Uncle Billy's boys.......2004-01-27
This book contains an examination of the army that General William Tecumseh Sherman led through Georgia and the Carolinas, in late 1864 and early 1865. Instead of being just another narrative of the March to the Sea and Carolina campaigns, however, Glatthaar's book is a look at the individuals that composed the army. In it, he examines the social and ideological backgrounds of the men in Sherman's army, and evaluates how they felt about various factors of the war--slavery, the union, and, most significantly, the campaign in which they were participating. The result is a fascinating look at Sherman's campaigns through the eyes of the everyday soldier. Glatthaar makes the army come alive, and shows the men not as heartless animals who delighted in wanton destruction, not as mechanized marching machines who could perform the most difficult marches without even flinching, but instead as real human beings, complete with sore feet, empty stomachs, and minds engaged in contemplation over the ethical ramifications of what they were doing to the people of the South.
This book, and others like it (such as James McPherson's For Cause and Comrades), is a refreshing change from the norm in Civil War history. The value of this book lies in its helping the reader understand that the war was fought by individuals, not masses of blue and gray, and that these individuals felt and thought a great deal about the cause they were engaged in. I have read much on the subject of Sherman's march, but never before this book did I truly feel like I understood the mentality of the 60,000 man army he led. This book will not give you a detailed and thorough account of Sherman's campaigns, but it will give anyone who already is somewhat familiar with the marches an incredible amount of insight that, I believe, cannot be gained elsewhere.
A view of the war from ground level.......2000-08-10
I have to confess a bias; Professor Glatthaar taught me US history in my first semester of college and was a very engaging, entertaining and clear teacher.
This book is history of the very best kind. It is extensively documented from primary sources, it is well written and draws the reader in and the text of the book is free from cumbersome and often distracting academic citation apparatus. It also has selected a topic of almost epic proportions.
The March to the Sea, coming on the heels of the devastating fall of Atlanta was the straw that broke the South's back. After years of war and the related hardships, the devastation that this march produced in the South dealt a death blow to the South's war effort.
In one of the great strategic decisions of the war, Sherman breaks his lines of communication and supply and, like a modern day nuclear sub, disappears only to resurface at Savannah. The freedom of movement that this decision allowed made this march even more effective.
Further, the productivity of the South, even after years of warfare is evidenced. The author presents data showing an increase in the weight of soldiers due to the richness of the diet they were able to secure from those unfortunate enough to be in the path of Sherman's army.
To quibble with a prior reviewer, this is not a novel. This is academic history of the best sort but written in a easy and accesible manner. A great book.
Learn more about Sherman's Soldiers- in their own words.......2000-02-27
Joseph Glatthaar wrote this book in order to examine Sherman's march across the South "from the level of the common soldier, both enlisted and officer". In the introduction he states that by writing the book from this perspective, he hoped "to restore the reality of the campaigns, to understand the underlying motivation of Sherman's men for adopting a policy of devestation and to shed light on the total-war concept in military history".
Mr. Glatthaar's efforts have resulted in this very informative and engaging book. I did not know a lot about Sherman's Army before reading this book, and feel that I now have a much better understanding of the men who filled the ranks and led the regiments in their famous march to the sea. In his text, Mr. Glatthaar presents many quotes directly from letters and diaries written by Sherman's men, which really enhances the story and his conclusions.
I recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn about Sherman's Army- why it was successful, why it adopted a policy of total war, destroying much of the South, and why it remains controversial to this day.
A great justice in the portrayal of MG Sherman's force........1997-03-28
Individuals who belong to a Civil War reenacting association, history buffs, and serious scholars of the Civil War will all find quiet enjoyment in Joseph Glatthaar's historical novel on Major General Sherman's march to Savannah and through the Carolinas. Glatthaar's perspective of bringing the war down to the level of the individual soldier is not always found in historical novels. He writes about the soldier's innermost feelings, not about the glorious generals, the great armies, or the magnificent campaigns. I believe that individual battles do not win wars, but that it is the men composing the fighting force that can turn a potential devastating defeat into a glorious victory. Mr. Glatthaar has done a great justice in his portrayal of the men who conducted the march to the sea and beyond. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who wishes better to understand the soldiers that fought for Sherman
Book Description
Sherman's March is the vivid narrative of General William T. Sherman's devastating sweep through Georgia and the Carolinas in the closing days of the Civil War. Weaving together hundreds of eyewitness stories, Burke Davis graphically brings to life the dramatic experiences of the 65,000 Federal troops who plundered their way through the South and those of the anguished -- and often defiant -- Confederate women and men who sought to protect themselves and their family treasures, usually in vain. Dominating these events is the general himself -- "Uncle Billy" to his troops, the devil incarnate to the Southerners he encountered.
"What gives this narrative its unusual richness is the author's collation of hundreds of eyewitness accounts...The actions are described in the words, often picturesque and often eloquent, of those who were there, either as participants -- Union soldiers, Confederate soldiers -- in the fighting and destruction or as victims of Sherman's frank vow to 'make Georgia howl.' Mr. Davis intercuts these scenes with closeups of the chief actors in this nightmarish drama, and he also manages to give us a coherent historical account of the whole episode. A powerful illustration of the proposition put forth in Sherman's most famous remark." -- The New Yorker
Book Description
A Bad Neighborhood
"Always Faithful." That was the IMC motto, and the Marines of Bravo Company, Bronze Battalion, of the Empress' Own Regiment, lived by it...even if they did occasionally wonder why they bothered. After all, Prince Roger MacClintock, Tertiary Heir to the Throne of Man, was a real piece of work. A spoiled rotten, arrogant, whiny, terminally handsome, thoroughly useless young pain in the butt.
But that was before the Royal Brat and his body guards were marooned on Marduk by an assassination attempt. Before they found themselves facing 120° heat in jungles where it rained five or six hours a day...during the dry season. Before they had to march half way around the entire planet, through damnbeasts, Capetoads, killerpillars, and atul-grak. Before they encountered treacherous local potentates, barbarian migrations, and an ocean full of sea serpents that could swallow a topsail schooner whole.
Under the right circumstances, even the most spoiled brat can grow up fast, and it turns out that under his petulant, spoiled exterior, Prince Roger is a true MacClintock, a scion of the warrior dynasty which created the Empire of Man a thousand years before. The Marines assigned to guard him have discovered a new belief in him -- and in their motto -- and they're determined that they will get him off of Marduk aIive.
Of course, the planet has other ideas...
Customer Reviews:
4 star novel, acceptable sequel with comments below.......2006-10-16
This novel is a decent sequel to March Upcountry, with more cases of inventing ancient weaponry to fight hordes of generally stupid barbarians and traitorous monarchs. (the one semi-competent barbarian general was unable to actually do what he wanted and later removed).
From writing style I suspect this book was mostly if not completely written by John Ringo. Many parts read VERY similarly to his other works I have read, including the posleen series and the council war series. Lectures on ancient military and industrial practices, techniques, etc are one aspect that is very familiar, and the characters of Pohner and Roger are very similar to his later Edmund (charles) talbot and Herzer from the council wars series. Battle scenes against hordes of poorly led barbarians are similar enough to posleen battle scenes to give me flashbacks to those novels as well.
As is noted elsewhere, the aliens in this novel are for all practical purposes human in character and behavior. He might as well have written a novel with the marines marooned on a human planet which had regressed to bronze-age tech.
In the end, if a series dealing with a technologically advanced group's need to re-invent some primitive military technologies in a primitive enviroment while being led by extremely competent leaders against usually incompetent or horde-like enemies is your thing, this is a very good example of it.
I do feel like this is something I have already read by John Ringo.
Too Many Similar Characters.......2006-06-24
I liked March Upcountry, the first in this series by Mr. Weber, but I found myself having trouble concentrating on March to the Sea, book two, mostly because the cast has grown to about 30+ characters and the multiple POV switching began to drive me a bit nutty. It would be one thing if these characters were different, but I found the aliens and their culture to be too human, and to find the alien characters almost virtually interchangeable.
I liked Prince Roj, Portena and some of the other characters, but they seem to take a back seat to some minor characters in this book. Perhaps this book would be better with a few hundred pages edited out?
Good, but not great. 3 stars.
Great books with one caveat.......2005-11-23
I've read quite a bit of Ringo recently, and thoroughly enjoyed his books...
but!
If I see either of the words "abattoir" or "actinic" one more time, I'm going to beat the man to death with a thesaurus!
John. You're a professional author. I think your plots, backgrounds, characters, etc, etc, are great... but PLEASE come up with some new way of describing things. Perhaps even a kind of battle other than "hordes of dumb bad guys and their occasional clever leader being messily killed by high-tech death", so those situations don't come up (again) to be described in the first place.
Having said that, March To the Sea has presented fewer opportunities for those two Dreaded Words to be used, and a second author to moderate their use that much more.
Where the combat of first book of the series (March Upcountry) was universaily between the humans and an overwhealming number of locals (who were slaughtered en mass), March To The Sea shows Roger & Co working with, arming, and training The Locals. Roger also progress up the military ranks. In March Upcountry, Roger grows from a (skilled, pampered, bratty) civy to a reasonably competent junior officer. Here, we see him becoming more of a general, heading up both his own force of Marine bodyguards and an expanding force of Mardukans.
Roger's going to have to lead an entire continent against that distant star port if this sort of progression is to continue. ;)
We're also seeing a slow shift in odds. It won't shock me to find that "march to the stars" ends in a horde of friendly Mardukans throwing themselves at Vastly Outnumbered Baddies, and being mowed down by plasma fire. More "actinic-fire spawned abattoirs". Whee. ;)
We're also priviy to the on-going Forbidden Fruit relationship between Roger and one of his female Marine bodygaurds (whose name escapes me at the moment), some of which is deeply amusing.
Weber and Ringo ROCK together!.......2003-10-23
This book took off exactly where the first left off! The Marines, with a bunch of new recruits, continue their march to the sea in hopes of purchasing ship transportation across the monster filled ocean.
Getting to the city near the coast was as hard as getting transport. Of course, battles for both had to be fought and won. But with each battle the challenges get harder. Ammo was not unlimited and few of the original Marines were left.
A bit of romance was thrown in for the fast maturing prince. And the readers get a few surprises thrown at them!
***** Not as many battles as the first book in the trilogy, but just as great! I do not know which author subtly alluded to the "Nancy Bell" poem near the ending, but it was done so smoothly that I can not help but wonder how many people noticed it. This is the best Sci-Fi series I have read all year! I am eagerly awaiting the third book. Highly recommended! *****
Part of the series, I will purchase this book for my collect.......2003-09-02
I loved the first book in this series "March Upcountry". I waited a long time for this sequel to come out and have read the third book in the series "March to the Stars".
Of the 3, I found this middle book to be very unoriginal (it seams to repeat the first book over and over); no one seems to grow or change; new elements do not add overwhelmingly to the book.
To say I was disapointed was saying it nicely, however the first and third book was excellent and worth collecting the series!!!!!!! So I will re-read this one and see if maybe I was just "off" when I read it the first time.
If you are reading the book alone, you might enjoy it. But if you are just getting in the series and skip the first book, you probably won't go farther. I suggest you start with the first and don't stop at this one but go on to the "March to the Stars"
Book Description
The March to the Sea was the culmination of Union General William T. Sherman's 1864 campaign during the American Civil War and was a devastating example of "total war." Confederate hopes in 1864 hinged on frustrating Union forces in the field and forcing Abraham Lincoln out of office in the November elections. However, this optimism was dampened by Sherman's success in the battle of Atlanta that same year.
Riding on the wave of this victory, Sherman hoped to push his forces into Confederate territory, but his plan was hindered by a Confederate threat to the army's supply lines.
After much delay, he boldly chose to abandon these, forcing the army to live off the land for the entirety of the 285-mile march to Savannah, destroying all war-making capabilities of the enemy en route, and inflicting suffering not only on Confederate troops, but also on the civilian population. Despite the vilification that this brutal tactic earned him, the march was a success.
Supported by contemporary photographs, detailed maps, bird's eye views, and battlescene artwork, this title explores the key personalities, strategies, and significant engagements of the march, including the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and the ultimate fall of Savannah to the Union, to provide a detailed analysis of the campaign that marked the "beginning of the end" of the American Civil War.
Customer Reviews:
A top pick for any military collection strong in Civil War history........2007-07-07
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA 1864: ATLANTIC TO SAVANNAH by David Smith tells of a grueling march - nearly three hundred miles - in which the army lived off the land and destroyed all war-making capabilities of the enemy. Photos, maps, and art examines the major participants, strategies, and campaigns of the last months of the Civil War, making for a top pick for any military collection strong in Civil War history.
Sherman and the March To The Sea in a Nut Shell.......2007-06-08
David Smith in less than a hundred pages provides the best short volume available regarding "Sherman's Renowned March To The Sea". Providing a short biography of each key player, the reason behind the campaign, including Grant's fear that it would fail, Smith writes in a very readable fashion. I recommend it for the beginner or the seasoned reader who wishes to understand the impact that Sherman had on ending the American Civil War. Further, while Sherman did not invent "total war", he brought it to the United States. The lesson of the "march" is timely for today, especially the fact that war involves civilians, no matter how one attempts to paint the issue otherwise.
The book reads like a well-crafted novel and should be purchased without resveration.
Two Campaigns for the Price of One.......2007-04-16
In Osprey's Campaign No. 179, Sherman's March to the Sea 1864, author David Smith describes Sherman's campaign across Georgia and Hood's campaign across Tennessee in late 1864. This is a phase of the American Civil War that often gets short shrift, due to the lack of `popular' large-scale battles, but it was nonetheless decisive in determining the outcome of the war in the West. Smith manages to deftly weave together the two campaigns into a coherent narrative that nicely adds to our understanding of this crucial phase of the war.
The opening sections on the origins of the campaign, opposing commanders, opposing armies and opposing plans are good. Smith's section on commanders provides capsule bios of 6 Union and 3 Confederate leaders, while the opposing armies section details the forces in both Tennessee and Georgia. The campaign narrative proper is sub-divided into two chapters on Sherman's march across Georgia and one on Hood's invasion of Tennessee. Graphically, the volume is complemented by five 2-D maps (After the fall of Atlanta, September-October 1864; March to the Sea, Part 1, 15-26 November 1864; Hood's Tennessee Campaign, November-December 1864; the Battle of Franklin, 30 November 1864; and the March to the Sea, Part 2, 28 November - 21 December 1864), two 3-D BEV maps (the Battle of Nashville, first and second day, 15-16 December 1864) and three battle scenes by Richard Hook (the Battle of Allatoona Pass, 5 October 1864; a Union foraging party; and Fort Mcallister, 13 December 1864). The volume also has rather lengthy orders of battle for both campaigns, totaling 7 pages. Notes on the battlefields today and bibliography are short, but adequate.
Southern readers may find Smith's description of Sherman's march to be a bit anti-septic, in that it seems to downplay the harm and injury inflicted upon Georgia's civilian population. Sherman's march was an emotional, gut-wrenching experience for the Confederacy to witness a Union army moving unmolested through the heart of its territory and the psychological damage was complemented by a vicious scorched earth policy. Smith's account is lucid but lacks some of the emotive weight that provides the historical context for this campaign. Even Sherman realized that his operation was far more than a mere march or a plundering raid, but a deep stab into the South's vitals. Indeed, Sherman's march was an early example of a new philosophy of warfare, that held that attacks upon regular military forces was merely a precursor to the execution of decisive attacks against an enemy's civilian economy (e.g. Julian Corbett a few decades later). It was also interesting to see the author's discussion of the Confederate use of buried land mines outside Savannah, which posed a threat not unlike the IEDs in Iraq today.
The author also covers Hood's campaign effectively and avoids any pre-determination that the campaign was foredoomed. Indeed, the author suggests that under better conditions, Hood's invasion of Tennessee might have succeeded in diverting at least part of Sherman's forces (but for how long?). Readers thirsting for action while find their appetite sated by the sanguinary battles of Franklin and Nashville, which ended any chance for the Confederacy to retrieve something from this campaign. Overall, a good volume.
Average customer rating:
- Juvenile
- Not as bad as some say.
- perfect condition
- My favorite author writes a dud....
- Historic District of Savannah
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Savannah: Or a Gift For Mr. Lincoln
John Jakes
Manufacturer: Signet
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Book Description
Georgia 1864: Sherman's army marches inexorably from Atlanta to the sea. In its path: the charming old city of Savannah, where the Lester ladies-attractive widow Sara and her feisty twelve-year-old daughter Hattie-struggle to save the family rice plantation. When Sherman offers the conquered city to President Lincoln as "a Christmas gift," Hattie and the feared general find themselves on a collision course that will astonish both of them.
Customer Reviews:
Juvenile.......2007-06-29
The only other work of Jakes that I have read was Charleston. Savannah is a completely different type of book. The main character is a young girl, which makes the book feel like it is geared toward the teenage crowd. Descriptions are not very detailed and all of the action that takes place is void of any feeling of excitement. I was expecting something similar to Charleston with its complex families and detailed descriptions of places and events. My main purpose for reading this book was the hope that I would learn a little more about a city I enjoy visiting. Obviously, I was unable to get a better view of the city of Savannah and I got little worth out of the book in general.
Not as bad as some say. .......2007-03-11
Sure its not perfect but this book is a heck of a lot better then what passes for historical fiction nowadays. While the characters and the resolutions are a little convenient there is still a satisfying conclusion and I can't understand what everyone is complaining about
perfect condition.......2007-02-08
The book was in perfect condition, my father will be so happy when I give it to him for his 75th birthday
My favorite author writes a dud...........2006-02-02
What is going on here, I read this because John Jakes is one of the best authors I have ever read.....Virtually everything else has been great, I could not get into this......Oh, well, he is still great....
Historic District of Savannah.......2005-11-14
Since I'm in love with Historic Savannah, I enjoyed this book
if only for it to bring more historic details to each architecturally enthralling building and moss dripping squares in the city's original district. I'll walk down Bull St. with a newer appreciation now. This brings historic reality to the district whereas "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is modernized. There's more to the 13th colony than it's dramatic opulence.
The story line was fun, quick to read and full of Christmas spirit ... which tended to be the reason that interlinked the Union troops and the Reb families during Savannah's 'momentary capture'. Once you realize the wit and wisdom of the hospitable
Mayor Arnold "giving" Savannah to the Union and President Lincoln, you realize why the district was not torched
and destroyed. An ingenius ploy that allows us today to relish
the original beauty and history of the "true" area and it's squares of Spanish Moss & Magnolia magnificence. If you love Savannah, this is a good picturesque read. I also appreciated Gen'l Sherman being humanized by his fatherly intrigue with little spitfire Hattie.
Average customer rating:
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To the Sea: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West Shermans March Across Georgia, 1864 (The Civil War Explorer Series) (The Civil War Explorer Series)
Jim Miles
Manufacturer: Cumberland House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Fields of Glory: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West, the Atlanta Campaign, 1864 (Miles, Jim. Civil War Explorer Series.)
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The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns
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Forged in Fire: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the East, From Manassas to Antietam, 1861-1862 (Miles, Jim. Civil War Explorer Series.)
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Paths to Victory: A History and Tour Guide of the Stone's River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville Campaigns (Miles, Jim. Civil War Campaigns Series.)
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A River Unvexed: A History and Tour Guide to the Campaign for the Mississippi River (The Civil War Campaigns Series)
ASIN: 1581822618 |
Book Description
In November 1864 William T. Sherman burned Atlanta and took an army of eighty thousand hardened Union veterans on a campaign that crushed the heart of the Confederacy. When he reached Savannah a month later, an ugly scar three hundred miles long and sixty miles wide had been burned across Georgia. Along the way the armies had destroyed factories, mills, and agricultural produce. Thousands of civilians—mostly women, children, and the elderly—had been left hungry and destitute.
To the Sea captures every aspect of the March, from Sherman's strategy to the brilliant methods he used to execute it. Here readers travel from Atlanta to Savannah on a journey in which soldiers and civilians, heroes and opportunists, men and women alike fought for their lives. Included is a series of driving tours that enable readers to see firsthand the path the armies took.
In addition to the lively history of the march, To the Sea includes more than one hundred photographs, maps, fascinating tours of the routes, sidebar articles on military strategy and biographical sketches of generals as well as a chronology of important events, sources for additional travel information, an index, and a bibliography. HISTORY; CIVIL WAR ILLUSTRATED; PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS 8” X 10”, 336 PAGES PAPERBACK
Customer Reviews:
Great book.......2003-04-21
Miles has done a great job with this book. He includes countless examples, both good and bad, of encounters between Yankee soldiers and the people of Georgia. If you want to know more about the personal side of the March, as well as the dates and places, this is certainly the book for you.
A teacher could easily use "To the Sea" as a text for a course in the March alone. The margins are wide to provide plenty of room to write notes. Thank you Jim Miles!! I will not hesitate to buy another book by this author.
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General Sherman and the Georgia Belles: Tales from Women Left Behind
Cathy J. Kaemmerlen
Manufacturer: The History Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Savannah's Little Crooked Houses: If These Walls Could Talk
ASIN: 1596291591
Release Date: 2006-10-18 |
Book Description
"He was coming. It was not the second coming of Christ, but some believed it to be the Devil himself."
In 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman and 60,000 Union soldiers embarked on a sixty-mile wide path of destruction through central Georgia now known as Sherman's March to the Sea. Georgians scrambled to resist this infamous campaign wherever possible, and opposition came from many unexpected sources, including the brave women of the Peach State. In every sense "steel magnolias," Georgia's women weren't ready to give up their precious South without a fight. This book explores the brave contributions these women made in the face of severe destruction and loss.
In Sherman's wake, Union soldiers burned and plundered as they went, destroying mill towns and charging with treason the fleeing women and children laborers who had sewn Confederate cloth. One Atlantan named Mary Rawson said, "Time after time we had been told of the severity of General Sherman until we came to dread his approach as we would that of a mighty hurricane." Still, despite the devastation and fear Sherman and his troops inflicted on the Georgia countryside and its cities, the Georgian belles were poised to stand firm in the face of an invasion meant to sever the very fabric of the South.
Cathy Kaemmerlen, a renowned storyteller and historical interpreter, provides a colorful collection of tales of exceptional Georgia women who made great sacrifices in an effort to save their families and homes. From the innocent diary of a 10-year-old girl to the words of a woman who risks everything to see her husband one last time, Kaemmerlen exposes the grit and gumption of these remarkable Southern women in inspiring and entertaining fashion.
Customer Reviews:
This is no Folly.......2007-02-03
Tuchman's "Folly" surveys four episodes in history - distinct in culture, chronlogy and geography but otherwise united in folly by the ruling leadership. Folly, as sess it, is policy pursued by leaders "contrary to self-interest". The problem for these leaders is that self-interest is often confused with selfishness - short-term benefits taking precedence over the longterm (or even when the benefits are illusory - with each episode displaying just outright stupidity). The Trojans greet Greeks bearing gifts; The renaissance Papacy provokes a protest; the British lose America and America loses Vietnam. In each of Tuchman's episodes, man's leadership not only trails his advances in science and the arts, but is actually inverse in relation - civilization takes a few thousand years to put a man on the moon, but hasn't yet developed a genuine government on Earth.
Works like "Folly" could easily fail based on prose (another boring history book!?) or if there are flaws in the overall analysis. But Tuchman excels on both counts. Not as in-depth as "Distant Mirror" (with its encyclopedic survey of the 13th century), "Folly" makes its point with razor-sharp clarity and Tuchman's prose are crisp and inviting. "Folly", for its thinness manages to find common ground in different eras and different forms of self-inflicted harm. Active, if ill-informed policy-making mires America in Vietnam, while the Trojans all but knock down their walls to make way for that gift-horse. On the flip side, British policy in the colonies seems clumsy, indicating that those for or against the colonies were incapable of formulating a cogent policy - the bane of a purely parliamentary system. Most lamentable (also the most entertaining), is the case of the renaissance popes. The Papacy raises an interesting issue, because the thesis requires the policy to issue from governments that choose the wrong course despite their capacity to go the right way - excluding "terminally corrupt regimes" like the Tsars and the KMT. Though the era of its folly (for purposes of the book) only spans the rule 6 popes over about 60 years (Sixtus IV - Clement VII), it's hard to fathom an analysis that allows for that leadership's capacity to lead. Among the myriad failings of each of the renaissance Popes was their habitual stacking of the College of Cardinals. Nepotism wasn't new before the reign of Sixtus, but in raising it to new heights held as an example by his successors, he set the Papacy into a cruel cycle. The stacked College chose successive popes who only were able to stack the College again. Being at once the product of the college of cardinals and also the architect of its new generation, the renaissance popes can do no more than prolong a corrupted system that bestowed upon them the papal tiara. Of the six popes cited, three actively pursue policy - while the remaining can do no more than continually tax christendom (especially the disunited German states), pursue confused alliances, arrange for lavish parties and deplete papal reserves. Under Tuchman's definition, self-harming policy is too inclusive of leadership incapable of forming policy. The corruption that bred the renaissance papacy was clearly endemic to the church of that era - with greed and manipulation of religion hardly limited to the seat of St. Peter - so it's hard to fault the popes. Tuchman clearly understands when recounting the reproach given to the future Leo X, that, were the Cardinals better men, they'd elect better popes, and "all men would be better for it". Unfortunately, as Tuchman notes, the Renaissance Cardinals could not be better men because they were chosen by the poor popes to begin with, while the Popes are stymied by the fact that they were chosen by an earlier generation of imperfect cardinals. How Rome broke this cycle, vindicating Tuchman by proving the papacy capable of doing so, gets too little shrift. In fact, the renaissance papacy, while corrupt, was also remarkably tolerant, and the reformation that it bred held dire consequences in terms of war and religious persecution of the Jews, every bit as painful as the machivellian schemeing of the pre-protestant papacy. It's all exasperating, heart-breaking and entertaining, but one wonders whether these episodes should have gotten their own book. In short, this tale of folly is a masterpiece.
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