Captain America #25: The Death of Captain America (Captain America)

Captain America #25: The Death of Captain America (Captain America)
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Captain America #25: The Death of Captain America (Captain America)
Ed Brubaker
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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Civil War (Marvel Comics)

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ASIN: B000O803J6

Product Description

Captain America Steve Rogers is shot and killed in this key issue. Things had already been bad for Cap he had been declared a fugitive after the Superhero Registration Act demanded all heroes be registered by the federal government. Captain America, seeing this as an invasion of civil rights, led a resistance against this movement, chronicled in Marvel Comics Civil War series. After Captain America discovered public opinion had turned against his resistance, he surrendered to authorities. This issue begins with a sniper firing at him on the steps of a federal courthouse on the way to his arraignment.

Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography

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Gienapp Let-Down
magnificent!
My Captain!
Abraham Lincoln And Civil War America
Abraham Lincoln in one slim volume.

Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography
William E. Gienapp
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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This Fiery Trial: The Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln

ASIN: 0195151003

Book Description

While the heart of the book focuses on the Civil War, Gienapp begins with a finely etched portrait of Lincoln's early life, from pioneer farm boy, to politician and lawyer in Springfield, to his stunning election as sixteenth president of the United States. We see how Lincoln grew during his years in office, how he developed a keen aptitude for military strategy and displayed enormous skill in dealing with his generals, and also how his strategy evolved from a desire to preserve the Union into one of emancipation and total war. A former backwoodsman and country lawyer, Abraham Lincoln rose to become one of America's greatest presidents. The biography offers a vivid account of Lincoln's dramatic ascension to the pinnacle of American history.

Customer Reviews:

Gienapp Let-Down.......2006-11-08

Bill Gienapp was a brilliant historian, and his work "The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856" is a pillar of American political history. Unfortunately, his final work, "Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America," is a tremendous let-down. It is perhaps one of the worst examinations of Lincoln's life, and has almost nothing to do with "Civil War America." Essentially, it is an unqualified love poem to Lincoln, and strives only to prove his greatness -- there is no critical analysis at all. Lincoln is given credit for every political and military success 1861-1865 and is absolved from blame for all his mistakes. In reality, Lincoln was a complex personality and his public career was much more tumultuous than Gienapp proposes. It is disappointing that Gienapp, a man who dedicated his life to exhaustive, nearly flawless historical research would resort to such frivolous, uncritical "pop history" at the end of his tragically short life. Skip Gienapp's Lincoln and, instead, read Stephen Oates's "With Malice Toward None" or Don Fehrenbacher's "Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850s."

magnificent!.......2006-06-27

A short, but very well biography of Lincoln. It counts only 250 pages, but it gives an excellent overwiew and superb analyse of the life of AL. The bibliography is also very interesting. One of the best books about the 16th president. A must for a Lincolnhistorian.

My Captain!.......2005-04-04

A good short, solid political biography. While Lincoln and the Civil War is its focus, by no means is this a battle history: Gettysburg is described in one paragraph.

Professor Gienapp has written a book that will introduce one to, or remind one of, the long and trying path traveled by Abraham Lincoln toward ultimate greatness.

Abraham Lincoln And Civil War America.......2002-03-23

William Gienapp's Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America answers a longstanding need for a biography of Lincoln manageable in size, accessible in style, and wise and balanced in content. Lincoln appers on every page of the book and is never lost sight of in the welter of events. He emerges from the text a real believable person, an individual and persuasive assessment of Lincoln's leadership abilities, the finest such appraisal avilable anywhere.

Abraham Lincoln in one slim volume........2002-03-10

This book is a welcome addition ot the already crowded Lincolnia bookself. The author is the presumed successor to the retired David Herbert Donald at Harvard University. Gienapp has produced a highly readable and concise version of a Lincoln biography that can be completed on a moderately long airplane trip(and it's quite portable unlike most hardcover books). While relatively short,this book is a sufficiently thorough treatment of the Civil War Lincoln. I especially enjoyed the author's analysis of the politician Lincoln who mastered his rivals, both Republican and Democrat. This a good book for either a new Lincoln /Civil War "buff" or a good refresher for a scholar of the times.

In at the Death (Settling Accounts, Book 4)

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Another Turtledove Triumph
An end, not an ending
The End! But a messy End!
Finally over. Thank you god
Readers won't be able to predicate the outcome

In at the Death (Settling Accounts, Book 4)
Harry Turtledove
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Grapple (Settling Accounts, Book 3)
1945: A Novel
MacArthur's War: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan
1634: The Baltic War
Final Impact (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 3)

ASIN: 0345492471
Release Date: 2007-07-31

Book Description

Franklin Roosevelt is the assistant secretary of defense. Thomas Dewey is running for president with a blunt-speaking Missourian named Harry Truman at his side. Britain holds onto its desperate alliance with the USA’s worst enemy, while a holocaust unfolds in Texas. In Harry Turtledove’s compelling, disturbing, and extraordinarily vivid reshaping of American history, a war of secession has triggered a generation of madness. The tipping point has come at last.

The third war in sixty years, this one yet unnamed: a grinding, horrifying series of hostilities and atrocities between two nations sharing the same continent and both calling themselves Americans. At the dawn of 1944, the United States has beaten back a daredevil blitzkrieg from the Confederate States–and a terrible new genie is out of history’s bottle: a bomb that may destroy on a scale never imagined before. In Europe, the new weapon has shattered a stalemate between Germany, England, and Russia. When the trigger is pulled in America, nothing will be the same again.

With visionary brilliance, Harry Turtledove brings to a climactic conclusion his monumental, acclaimed drama of a nation’s tragedy and the men and women who play their roles–with valor, fear, and folly–on history’s greatest stage.

Customer Reviews:

Another Turtledove Triumph.......2007-10-09

Loved it. I've been waiting for the end of this series for three years now; since I read the first book. The American Front and Great War series all led up to this series finale. I hope he comes out with a cold war type series with these characters.

An end, not an ending.......2007-10-07

Harry Turtledove's eleven volume decalogy [insert Spinal Tap joke here] alternate history exploring a successful Confederate secession sputters to a conclusion in "In at the Death". The overarching theme throughout his saga is race in America. He imagines a "butterfly effect" in which a small change in America's past leads to a Black holocaust. That's pure, almost reckless, speculation. We are invited to compare our actual history with his alternate vision, learning -- I suppose -- it could have been worse.

As to the writing and storytelling....

Turtledove apparently promised to name various characters after real people. (Authors sometimes do this in exchange for charitable donations or for other reasons.) He must made a lot of promises, because throughout the book minor characters are awkwardly identified by full names. "The orderly, who was named Quentin P. Quackenbush, gave him the letter. A few minutes later Quentin P. Quackenbush was killed by a disease and his replacement, Elmo R. Muppettson, took over."

Turtledove is also fond of sneaking in recognizable personages without directly identifying them. Eisenhower appears, inexplicably renamed "Ironhewer" (a German translation); the C.S. VP is "Dan Partridge", an anachronous Dan Quayle; a Navy officer named "Dick" with a permanent five o'clock shadow appears. There are many others. But this is too cute by half and just a distraction.

Throughout the story Turtledove uses certain words and phrases over and over again. And over and over again. "Or are going to tell me I'm wrong?" It's just weak writing or editing.

In particular, he uses what we now call "the n-word" throughout. In the earlier books, I took this as evidence of his characters' cruel and indifferent attitudes toward Blacks ... attitudes that would evolve toward a contemporary sensibility as the story progressed. But I noticed he also used that terminology when relating the thoughts of characters who didn't use such language when speaking. Perhaps that was to show their hidden sentiments, but eventually I concluded Turtledove was just being cruel and indifferent in his writing.

The entire saga is an interesting retelling of history overlaying world events into a different North American political landscape. It's too long and does not satisfactorily resolve the plot lines laid out in the course of the story. I can't recommend this book or its predecessors for most readers. Those who have a strong interest in American history, military history or the Civil War, and who have a lot of time to spend reading these volumes may find something of value in the series.

The End! But a messy End!.......2007-10-04

I remember watching a documentary on the making of "SLIDERS," and there was a scene where they were interviewing Jerry O'Connell, and he was talking about when John Rhys-Davies left the show. And what he said, I believe best sums up the entire "Settling Accounts," saga.

"I can still vividly remember during reading sessions, John, banging his fist on the table, saying, 'Damn it, this show could be so good if we only did this, this, and this.'"

The story starts off where we last were at the end of "The Grapple," with US forces poised outside Atlanta, with the possibility of Confederate dictator, Jake Featherstone, still pulling victory from defeat. But, the book, much like the war for Featherstone, starts to unravel as it draws to a close. The most annoying thing is Morrel cutting of Atlanta from the East. It worked for Sherman, because the majority of the CS population and industry was East of Atlanta. By the second world war in Settling Accounts, just about all of the Confederacy's rocket's, tanks, trucks, steel, and power, came from Alabama, Harry Turtledove has written that himself, and yet, the US army heads EAST!?! Whatever substance that Turtledove was ingesting when he came up with this idea, I want it now and I want it in large quantities. Most fans of Harry's work will recognize this as one of his most annoying traits that keeps rearing its head during his work. "If Harry encounters a problem that doesn't fit in with what HE wants, he simply ignores it."

But the story isn't all that bad. The characters fun to read, especially, Featherstone, and we finally get a conclusion to the Forrest Coup. Historical characters pop up from here to there, like Lord Halifax, Harry Truman, and a possible Dwight Eisenhower who takes Patton's surrender. Other characters, especially the blacks, I found fun to read as they found themselves cock of the walk in the CSA after the US troops had taken over.

The black holocaust its self is IMHO, is very well done. Although the invasion of Haiti which was mentioned towards the end was an annoyance. The holocaust star's to become a blight on the civilians who have to live with it, pilled on top with the fear of US reprisals, which results in the succession of Texas, a move which caught me by surprise.

The end of the story was to be a disappointment. The CSA gets annexed with the prospect of equality for all people no matter what their skin color is. It all happens so fast you can't help but wonder weather or not Turtledove just threw that in for closure, or after all the horrible nasty, cruel stuff that'd been going on, he simply wanted something good to come out of all this. Most likely, option 'A.' Fans will be disappointed that the European war is left unconcluded. The countries of Europe are left in ruins and at the negotiating table by the books end, leaving the fate of Europe up in the air. The fate of Canada and the Mormons drops off the face of the earth, and Japan get's away with murder once more, turning into an analogue of Soviet Russia.

In the end, despite all the unfinished plot lines that disappeared down a black hole, I'm glad the series is over. Although you would clamor for more, there's really nothing more to continue with this series. After all, this has always been about the USA and the CSA, and now that the CSA is dead, there's no more story.

After all is said and done, in at the Death scores a 6 out of ten. It was still a good read, and you will enjoy it yourself if you are a fan of the series.

Finally over. Thank you god .......2007-10-02

Well first off I would like to thank Harry Turtledove because if he had stayed on the ball and continued to write good books (like the Great War series was) I would never have branched out and found so many other better authors to read.

So the confederacy is collapsing and bad old Jake Featherington doesn't want to admit that he is about to lose. If you really need to read this book to find out what happens you should really go back to history 101. Now that I am thinking about this is actually a bad thing this book is an improvement over previous volumes and there are a few good twists but it is not enough. It wouldn't be so bad if

1. Turtledove didn't invest all his writing ability in these stupid cookie cutter battles.

Tank battle works like this "Oh my god the Confederates are shooting at us!!" but the confederates didn't have enough left to shoot and were overwhelmed.

Infantry battles work like this from the confederate side "We've got to stop the Yankees at Atlanta!!! (or Augusta, Birmingham, New Orleans or Charlotte wherever the action happens to be) but all of their efforts were too little too late.

(For US military battles reverse it and flip it)

I'm just going to do us all a favor and not mention the Naval Battles those of us who have been reading thing seirse forever "Know all that"

2. The humor still sucks the jokes were not funny in book one and are not funny now yet somehow these characters think they are hilarious.
3. Which brings me to my next point the dialog/characters sucks (mostly) they range from vague descriptions of international events/politics to vague repetitive questioning example "Do you think we can hold out/win/lick the Yankees?" Before I go any further I'm just going to say that Leonard O'Doul and Sam Crestian have got to be the most boring characters I have ever had the misfortune to read in any work of fiction.
4. The terminology is still idiotic how many times can one put Y-Ranging on a single page?

The only positive parts of the book for me are Cassius (although I liked Cassius the 1st much better) and Clarence Potter (the only guy in this 10 volume train wreak with an once of sense). Especially when you consider everyone else with a personality was killed off books and books ago,

Overall-In spite of everything Turtledove does manage to pose an interesting question with the nuking of one northern city, two southern cities, and three British Cities who has the moral high ground here? Its very hard to say that one side is better when they are all standing the mud. Weather this was intentional or not that's enough to give this book another star.

Readers won't be able to predicate the outcome.......2007-09-28

Just like the book "Breakthroughs" I had to read this final installment on my day off, because pretty soon I just could not put it down!

The end of the (yet unnamed) second global war of the 20th century is in sight, but there is no guarantee it will be the end of conflict (there's a difference). The fourth war since the Confederate States won their independence in 1863 is tearing North America apart. Not to mention the other side of the Atlantic, where England and other Europeans countries defeated by Germany and Austria-Hungry in 1917 are trying to take revenge. Just like the real WW2 this is essentially a no-win situation and the only arena that could be considered good v evil is the liberation of the Negro death camps in Texas.

They say this book is the last to be written in the Southern Victory series. But hopefully that's not so because at the end of this book there is still so much to know about the world after the war ends in 1944. Without giving too much away I can promise you'll read about victory, defeat, atomic explosions (on both sides of the Atlantic), trials for "crimes against humanity" and death or new life for the protagonists we have all come to know and love.

To be honest I expected this book to be quite predictable and to know in advance which side is going to win the war and/or develop the atom bomb first. How wrong I was! Readers won't be able to predicate the outcome of either - in America or Europe.

I think HT expects one of the victors of this war to eventually develop into the country it is today. I won't spoil by telling you which, but even if that happens the rest of the world certainly will not be as it today. Once again, it is clear that Robert E. Lee not losing Special Orders 191 80 years ago has changed the fate of not only America but of the whole world.

Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America

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Chittums predictions are coming true
Very Good Book
Buy This Book. Your Life May Depend Upon It.
A glimpse of the present and the future
Dont buy this book unless you are ready for some startleing revelation's

Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America
Thomas W. Chittum
Manufacturer: American Eagle Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0929408179

Customer Reviews:

Chittums predictions are coming true.......2007-03-26

One look at what's happening with our porous southwestern border, the throng of illegals streaming across it, and our ineffectual government's refusal to seal and protect it makes this important analysis a must read for those who know the score concerning the looming national disaster that the evening news refuses to cover.

Very Good Book.......2007-02-26

Chittum talks about phases of Civil War II: 1. Tribalization, or the undermining of the concept of citizenship. 2. The creeping loss of democracy to private, governmental institutions and international bodies. 3. Gradually falling wages. 4. The slow decay of infrastructure in our cities and the abandonment by Americans and their replacement by minorities wedded to welfare and affirmative action. 5. Growing legal and illegal immigration to transform America into a typical Third World country. 6. Massive drive for gun control to cripple military potential from the working class. 7. Cooperation of the mass media to dumb down the population.

Near the end of the book he makes projections that you can see happening right now:

1.Shrinking hourly wage. 2. More immigrants than Americans. 3. Foreigners hold most Federal Debt. 4. Twenty million Third World slums on our borders known as `colonias'. 5. Manufacturing jobs moved out of the USA making it impossible for us to make or sell anything to the world. 6. Republican and Democratic politicians refusing to deal with the immigration crisis. Worse, both parties aid and abet it. 7. Growing power of advocates of Aztlan or the reconquest of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by Mexico.

Buy This Book. Your Life May Depend Upon It........2007-02-01

I moved cross country because of this book. I spent months doing my own research, trying to refute the claims by this author and couldn't. Multicultural nations are filled with animosity, fear, distrust and ultimately do not survive. Even the liberal Harvard researcher Robert Putnam (author of "Bowling Alone") reluctantly admitted that people "hunker down" in diverse neighborhoods and don't trust either people who look like them and amazingly, people who do look like them. According to Putnam, Los Angeles had the lowest levels of trust of any city, while Chittum stated that Los Angeles would be ground zero for the coming civil war. Putnam was so distressed by his findings that he said "we must create a new us." Only an intellectual could come up with something so foolish.

The best part of the book is that he provides a geographical map of where the new nations are likely to be. He even maps out the white enclave areas in Texas, Georgia etc. and shows you the lack of viability and logistical problems of remaining in these spots.

The checklist will make a believer out of you. Some of these trends were somewhat apparent in 1996, but the vast majority were not. This man either had a crystal ball, or he knows what he's talking about. I gladly paid over $50 for this book, but now you can buy it for much less, so what are you waiting for? I literally have hundreds of books in my personal library, but if I were only allowed to keep one, it would be Civil War II.

A glimpse of the present and the future.......2007-01-30

Great book!! The chapter titled Civil War Checklist is especially disturbing because many things he mentions have already come to pass.

The breakup of America is inevitable. The chaos and bloodshed will make the Balkans and our first civil war look like some sort of game.

Dont buy this book unless you are ready for some startleing revelation's.......2007-01-10

This book written about ten year's ago is unfolding like the daily newspaper.SO many truths that are being shown so many lies being unvealed for people who are ready for a life changeing reality check here it is if this dont get you you motivated nothing will.

The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows

Average customer rating:

Interesting, But It Felt Slanted
Strange title for a good read
Lincoln and the Gettysburg Gospel is a Gem of Exegetical Clarification of the greatest political speech in world history.
More Focus Please!
Read Wills Instead

The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows
Gabor Boritt
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Presidents & Heads of State | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0743288203

Book Description

The words Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg comprise perhaps the most famous speech in history. It has been quoted by popes, presidents, prime ministers, and revolutionaries around the world. From "Four score and seven years ago..." to "government of the people, by the people, for the people," Lincoln's words echo in the American conscience. Many books have been written about the Gettysburg Address and yet, as Lincoln scholar Gabor Boritt shows, there is much that we don't know about the speech. In The Gettysburg Gospel he reconstructs what really happened in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863. Boritt tears away a century of myths, lies, and legends to give us a clear understanding of the greatest American's greatest speech.

In the aftermath of the bloodiest battle ever fought in North America, the little town of Gettysburg was engulfed in the worst man-made disaster in U.S. history: close to 21,000 wounded; very few doctors; heroic women coping in houses, barns, and churches turned into hospitals; dead horses and mules rotting in farmyards and fields; and at least 7,000 dead soldiers who had to be dug up, identified, and reburied. This was where Lincoln had to come to explain why the horror of war must continue.

Planning America's first national cemetery revitalized the traumatized people of Gettysburg, but the dedication ceremonies overwhelmed the town. Lincoln was not certain until the last moment whether he could come. But he knew the significance of the occasion and wrote his remarks with care -- the first speech since his inauguration that he prepared before delivering it. A careful analysis of the Address and the public reaction to it form the center of this book. Boritt shows how Lincoln responded to the politics of the time and also clarifies which text he spoke from and how and when he wrote the various versions. Few people initially recognized the importance of the speech; it was frequently and, at times, hilariously misreported. But over the years the speech would grow into American scripture. It would acquire new and broader meanings. It would be better understood, but also misunderstood and misinterpreted to suit beliefs very different from Lincoln's.

The Gettysburg Gospel is based on years of scholarship as well as a deep understanding of Lincoln and of Gettysburg itself. It draws on vital documents essential to appreciating Lincoln's great speech and its evolution into American gospel. This is an indispensable book for anyone interested in the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, or American history.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting, But It Felt Slanted.......2007-09-14

I found this an interesting, but possibly flawed book.

The history and detail was fascinating, as was the examination (and inclusion!) of Everett's speech, of which I'd heard, but had never read. The description of Gettysburg immediately after the battle, and in the days surrounding the dedication ceremony was truly a window into another era.

However, as the book continued, and the instances of "Good, God fearing Republicans, struggling to save the country" and "Bad, pro-slavery/appeasement-minded Democrats not caring about the Union" mounted, I felt I was reading a political text that was slanted to support the current national situation, and not a dispassionate historical examination of the events of a century and a half gone. Other reviewers have mentioned this occurance as an interetsing coincidence. Even though I'm a Republican, I was jarred by the tone.

As a result, my enjoyment of the book was lessened, as was my trust of the text and the author's use selected references.

An interesting book, but too interpretive for my tastes. Read it, but have a pinch of salt ready.

Strange title for a good read.......2007-07-11

It truly is amazing that so many words and books can be written about a speech that is but 272 words long. Gabor Boritt's book is an enjoyable and easy read on Lincoln's most famous speech.
Much of the book deals with the immediate aftermath of the terrible Gettysburg battle with the author painting a vivid picture of the terrible scene which must have greeted the eye on July 4th.
It is interesting that the famous address did not get immediate general approval. Boritt shows that the speech was almost forgotten until the 1880's.
As with most Lincoln supporters, the author attempts to show that the speech was not written on the train to Gettysburg and that Lincoln gave the speech considerable thought. The truth is no one knows, but a good argument can be made for the proposition that Lincoln must have given it little thought prior to the event. Who in their right mind is going to travel from Washington to Gettysburg and DECIDE to present an address of only 272 words. The words came from the heart and from years of experience and empathy. Just as Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech was somewhat spontaneous (although a very similar speech was presented at Cobo Hall, Detroit some weeks previously), there is strong circumstantial evidence that Lincoln put this speech together at short notice.
I have no idea why the book is sub-titled "The Lincoln Speech that Nobody Knows," but Boritt does provide a number of slightly different versions of the speech in the appendix. Most of the differences are minor to put it mildly. The author's description of how the speech initially got little response but grew to be appreciated over time to be a work of genius is well developed.
Paradoxically, the most enjoyable section of the book is the full text of Edward Everett's speech which I read fully for the first time. You can appreciate why Everett was seen as a great orator because of his ability to paint pictures with words although his two hour address can hardly be described as uplifting. Almost all of the speech was taken up with a chronological history of the events at Gettysburg (spoken from memory) and the aging orator failed to properly commend and eulogize the thousands who had given their life on the adjacent battlefield.
The book has copious appendices, bibliography, notes which provide a rich resource for serious students of Lincoln and Gettysburg. Overall, an enjoyable not too studious read on the topic.

Lincoln and the Gettysburg Gospel is a Gem of Exegetical Clarification of the greatest political speech in world history........2007-05-31

The Gettysburg Address was delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. The battle had been fought in July but now a National Cemetery was to dedicated honoring the Union dead who had died that the United States might live.
What a day it was ! A beautiful autumn crisp with the promise of a warm sky sailing serenly over the sight of the bloodiest batlle in American history. A day when the renowned orator Edward Everett spoke for over two hours drawing analogies between Gettysburg and those men who died to preserve Athenian democracy. Everett gave a detailed account of the battle emphasizing the legitimacy of the Union effort. He also spoke with insight on the superiority of the federal government to which the individual states pledged their loyalty.
And then...after the bands and the songs, the prayers and the cheers were silent the sixteenth President of the United States rose to speak. He had a mild form of smallpox; had lost his son Willie to death in the White House and had a son Tad who was ill back home in Washington DC.
Lincoln spoke his 272 words concluding with his immortal words, "''that the goverment of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Lincoln drew on a lifetime of study to produce this masterpiece. The Declaration of Independence; the oratory of Webster and Clay, Shakespeare and the Bible all played a role in his crafting of the speech. If the Emancipation Proclamation was prose genius then the Gettysburg Address is poetry sublime in its assertion of indivdual freedom and the right of human beings to breathe free air.
The speech was neglected, for the most part, by contemporary press accounts. Only in the 1880s when the movement to reconcile NOrth and South picked up steam did it take on an importance in the American heart that has never been usurped, The GA inspired black fighters for Civil Rights as the twentieth century led to a cry for racial equality in our nation. Men like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela in South Africa were inspired by Lincoln's words.
Boritt's book is divided into several sections. The first two hundred pages deal with the account of the night and the day Lincoln spent in Gettysburg in 1863. We learn of the horrific battlefield casualties and see closeup the preparations made and the carrying out of the ceremony on November 19th. Other sections deal with the five authentic copies of the Gettysburg Address; the complete text of Edward Everett's two hour oration that day; an extensive bibliography and notes. Professor Boritt also shows us pictures of the drafts as written in longhand by Lincoln.
The book is also a fascinating look into how the Gettysburg Address achieved mythic fame since it was first uttered on that November day. In a moving final chapter we read the address in the context of a 9-11 obervance of the attack on the World Trade Center.
As long as our United States lives we all pray that the Gettysburg Address will be there to inspire us to work for equality and justice for all of our citizens regardless of race, religion or political affiliation.
Boritt is one of the best scholars on the life of Lincoln and the Civil War era. Anyone who teaches the Civil War in the classroom should make use of this outstanding work of scholarship and love.

More Focus Please!.......2007-04-15

Boritt's 'Gettysburg Gospel' is one of the very few Civil War books that I could not get into. Stylistically, this book is way too haphazard and unorganized to be considered one of the best books in the Lincoln cannon. Boritt falls into the trap that Garry Wills fell into in his "Lincoln at Gettysburg." The two authors try to be over-elegant and verbose because their book itself is about one of the greatest triumphs of the English language rather then a singular event. Boritt (and Wills for that matter) would be better to just write in a plain, inelegant fashion without the grossly excessive verbiage which permeates this book. Wills, in all fairness, can get away with it, but the more academic Boritt has a difficult time indeed. For example, Boritt writes early on in describing the dead on the battlefield: "Others even pulled bodies from shallow graves. A weapon is worth a great deal. Who cares who the dead man was? Who was it? Dead." This kind of useless prose brings the momentum of this book down time and time again.

For Civil War enthusiasts themselves, many already knew that Everett went on for a very long time before Lincoln delivered his address. One of the things that surprised me was the lack of analysis of the address itself. That disappointed me because the book was subtitled as: `The Lincoln Speech Nobody Knows." In order to get a fresh analysis that Wills does not offer in his book, the reader will have to turn to the appendix to get the several versions of the address. Overall, more focus and less sentimentality would have made for a leaner, more coherent account of the making of the address and it's meaning through the last 140 years.

Read Wills Instead.......2007-04-08

The main text of this book is a loose, often disjointed accumulation of facts surrounding the dedication of the cemetery. That portion of the book is mostly filler since only a small portion deals with the Address. If that were the whole book, I would give it 2 stars. However, the Appendices, including Everett's full address, all versions of Lincoln's Address, and the scientific evaluations of the relative accuracies of the versions, are very enlightening. Read Wills' Lincoln at Gettysburg for a much more insightful book on the speech itself. Skip the text in this one and go directly to the Appendices.

Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Politics and Society in Twentieth Century America)

Average customer rating:

An enlightening book on public diplomacy
Causes and Effects
Eye Opening and Important -- A Great Read!
Excellent!

Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Politics and Society in Twentieth Century America)
Mary L. Dudziak
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

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ASIN: 0691095132

Book Description

In 1958, an African-American handyman named Jimmy Wilson was sentenced to die in Alabama for stealing two dollars. Shocking as this sentence was, it was overturned only after intense international attention and the interference of an embarrassed John Foster Dulles. Soon after the United States' segregated military defeated a racist regime in World War II, American racism was a major concern of U.S. allies, a chief Soviet propaganda theme, and an obstacle to American Cold War goals throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Each lynching harmed foreign relations, and "the Negro problem" became a central issue in every administration from Truman to Johnson.

In what may be the best analysis of how international relations affected any domestic issue, Mary Dudziak interprets postwar civil rights as a Cold War feature. She argues that the Cold War helped facilitate key social reforms, including desegregation. Civil rights activists gained tremendous advantage as the government sought to polish its international image. But improving the nation's reputation did not always require real change. This focus on image rather than substance--combined with constraints on McCarthy-era political activism and the triumph of law-and-order rhetoric--limited the nature and extent of progress.

Archival information, much of it newly available, supports Dudziak's argument that civil rights was Cold War policy. But the story is also one of people: an African-American veteran of World War II lynched in Georgia; an attorney general flooded by civil rights petitions from abroad; the teenagers who desegregated Little Rock's Central High; African diplomats denied restaurant service; black artists living in Europe and supporting the civil rights movement from overseas; conservative politicians viewing desegregation as a communist plot; and civil rights leaders who saw their struggle eclipsed by Vietnam.

Never before has any scholar so directly connected civil rights and the Cold War. Contributing mightily to our understanding of both, Dudziak advances--in clear and lively prose--a new wave of scholarship that corrects isolationist tendencies in American history by applying an international perspective to domestic affairs.

Customer Reviews:

An enlightening book on public diplomacy .......2007-01-11

If you think Las Vegas tourist ads and "listening tours" are components of public diplomacy and international relations, you need to read this book. If you think media coverage is intense now, you need to read this book. Dudziak gets into the reality and impact of media coverage forty years ago and its impact on the global information war of the time that is remarkably similar to today: "Following World War II, anything that undermined the image of American democracy was seen as threatening world peace and aiding Soviet aspiration to dominate the world... Nations were divided between a way of life 'distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression' and a way of life that "relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms."

Dudziak looks at the impact of race and the civil rights movement in the United States on American public diplomacy and foreign policy. The impact of America's "color bar" on foreign relations is astonishing and Dudziak helps contextualize the movement and government responses within contemporary pressures.

Indiscriminate actions against foreign and American dignitaries reinforced the accessibility of race-based norms to all and played into Soviet propaganda and provided a painful counternarrative that impacted US foreign relations. The US Ambassador, Chester Bowles, to India, speaking in 1952 at Yale University said, "A year, a month, or even a week in Asia is enough to convince any perceptive American that the colored peoples of Asia and Africa, who total two-thirds of the world's population, seldom think about the United States without considering the limitations under which our 13 million Negroes are living."

As we attempted to project democracy and its emphasis on equality and freedom, in opposition to Soviet tyranny, discrimination in the US was well known beyond our borders. Dudziak presents "With Us or Against Us" examples with Louis Armstrong and Josephine Baker as examples, among others. In the case of Baker, State Department officers justified censorship and hardship imposed on Baker by discounting her personal beliefs. Her "derogatory" remarks "concerning racial discrimination in the United States" were deemed to be "presenting a distorted and malicious picture of actual conditions." If we do not practice democracy, how well will our promotion of it be received? This was a real question of the time that other history books ignore and was the very question Ambassador Bowles asked.

As Dudziak wrote, "Domestic difficulties were managed by US presidents with an eye toward how their actions would play overseas." Disingenuous or factually misleading statements to justify domestic policies and opinions are not the mainstay of any single generation. While not intending to be destructive to the nation, these policies have a severely detrimental affect on domestic cohesion and leadership within the foreign relations. Dudziak implies the race issue in the international press was the seed of negative views of the US. The golden temple of American democracy was seen as something falling short, even hypocritical. Locksley Edmunson, writing in 1973, could be speaking of today with our Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and alleged secret CIA prisons when he wrote, "Those states best technically equipped to maintain world order are not necessarily the ones whose credentials recommend them as the most appropriate guardians of a global conscience."

You can read different things out of Mary Dudziak's book. As a student of public diplomacy, my take-away centered on the impact on foreign policy, which the author does a good job investigating. The take-away? Practice what you preach, or at least be effective in making them think you're trying to.

Causes and Effects.......2001-06-05

Upon first consideration one would think that the reciprocal influences of the Cold War and American civil rights activity would be self-evident. Perhaps, but Dudziak's book is full of surprises and details how galling the "American Dilemma" was to U.S. foreign policy-makers and various presidents and how each responded to the concerns of African, Asian, American, and European countries regarding the United States civil rights struggle over several decades. Why was civil rights legislation important to American foreign policy? How was Eisenhower's response to school desegregation in Little Rock influenced by foreign perceptions? How did the international attention to civil rights activity affect John Kennedy's domestic policies? Why was the State Department so concerned about Asian and African criticisms of the United States' record on civil rights? How was the Civil Rights Act of 1965 viewed by the international community? How did the views of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X affect United States foreign policy efforts? Was the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to an American activist also an international signal that worried a president and the State Department? These questions and many more are answered by Dudziak.

Dudziak deserves recognition and commendations for clearly demonstrating that the United States civil rights movement had a global as well as a national impact on America's foreign policy efforts and placed the United States squarely between the demands of a persecuted domestic minority and the scrutiny of the nations to which it declared itself the leader of human rights, liberty, and freedom in contrast to the totalitarian regimes of communist countries.

This book is well worth reading and an important addition to the growing number of books on the history of race relations that was not, and is not,taught in school. Kudos to Dudziak for an important job well done.

Eye Opening and Important -- A Great Read!.......2001-01-11

Mary Dudziak revisits a familiar chapter in American history--the civil rights movement--but provides readers with a completely new perspective on it.

We know about the work that was being done in the streets. But now Dudziak helps us see the movement through the eyes of America's cold war policymakers. For them, civil rights was a foreign policy problem, and Dudziak helps us see how this explains many of the movements successes and (maybe more important) many of its defeats.

Essential reading for everyone interested in American history, civil rights, constitutional law (yes, even Brown v. Board of Education must be seen in light of this analysis), and foreign policy.

Excellent!.......2001-01-08

This book is fabulous. Clear and articulate, it reads like a story and explores an aspect of the civil rights movement most authors and historians have neglected. It is meticulously researched and filled with information from sources ranging from presidential telephone conversations to news wires to official publications. The civil rights movement cannot be fully understood without reflecting upon the information contained in this book.

West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War

Average customer rating:

wonderful addition to the literature
Reconstruction
Well researched and very thoughtful
Good review of Reconstruction and westward expansion
Thought provoking and unique

West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War
Heather Cox Richardson
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0300110529

Book Description

The story of Reconstruction is not simply about the rebuilding of the South after the Civil War. Instead, the late nineteenth century defined modern America, as Southerners, Northerners, and Westerners gradually hammered out a national identity that united three regions into a country that could become a world power. Ultimately, the story of Reconstruction is about how a middle class formed in America and how its members defined what the nation would stand for, both at home and abroad, for the next century and beyond.
A sweeping history of the United States from the era of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, this engaging book stretches the boundaries of our understanding of Reconstruction. Historian Heather Cox Richardson ties the North and West into the post–Civil War story that usually focuses narrowly on the South, encompassing the significant people and events of this profoundly important era.
By weaving together the experiences of real individuals—from a plantation mistress, a Native American warrior, and a labor organizer to Andrew Carnegie, Julia Ward Howe, Booker T. Washington, and Sitting Bull—who lived during the decades following the Civil War and who left records in their own words, Richardson tells a story about the creation of modern America.

Customer Reviews:

wonderful addition to the literature.......2007-10-02

I am not going to say much because I agree with all the positive comments made by the other reviewers... after reading this excellent book I had a much better understanding of present day history and how it unfolded after the Civil War.

Reconstruction.......2007-09-27

Heather Cox Rrichardson conludes her book, "West From Appomattox," with the statement, "Ultimately, the story of reconstruction is about how a middle class formed in America and how its members define what a nation would stand for." The book is not an easy read but it outlines clearly how this middle class was formed and how its influence grew. Since we are, most of us, members of the middle class it is important to understand the process and its implications. The book's focus is on the period of reconstruction following the Civil War with emphasis on western expansion. It is recommended that the reader first read Owen Wister's book, "The Virginian" as the author alludes to it often. Richardson's book is chuck full of food for thought and should be studied as well as read. Much contained therein suggests an intimate understanding of today's events. The book is for the serious student of American history and the rewards for time spent are great.

Well researched and very thoughtful.......2007-08-24

Ms. Richardson's breadth of knowledge is truly impressive, and a history of this era written from a woman's eyes is unique.
She is, in fact, quite a good writer, in that she is able to encapsulate some unusual concepts in prose that is easy to understand. Her writing is not for those who to be spoonfed, however. But then, I suspect that was not her goal.

Good review of Reconstruction and westward expansion.......2007-07-01

Heather Cox Richardson's West from Appomattox covers a period of history that has been seemingly rather ignored by contemporary historians, namely the Reconstruction period and westward expansion in the mid to late 1800s. Cox synthesizes much history and puts it into its broader context quite well. Much of her writing is academic in nature and not of the narrative form many readers of recent historical accounts have come to expect. Specifically, Richardson studied under the master of this period, David Herbert Donald. While the breadth of her research and knowledge is as impressive as any, her ability to convey the information in a way that brings in any person with even a passing interest in the topic is not her strength. I think she has much to say and, should she want to write history in a form other than a graduate text level, she would be well served to read how David Kennedy, David Herbert Donald, James McPherson or even Doris Kearns Goodwin actually write. That said, those who would like to really bone up on what changes the United States went through from 1865 to 1900, predominately politically and somewhat economically, would be well advised to read this book.

Thought provoking and unique.......2007-04-19

Conventional history teaches that Reconstruction failed due to racism and apathy, while viewing it as a Southern issue. Heather Cox Richardson moves Reconstruction into mainstream America, viewing it not as a Southern issue but as part of national development and westward expansion. Doing this transforms the thin gruel of reconstruction history into a complex, layered dish full of unexpected and very new treats. Reconstruction changes from a fight between President and Congress, to an issue that challenges America's ideals and is national in scope.

This book links Reconstruction, westward expansion, questions on suffrage, controlling business, tariffs and the development of the middle class into one coherent movement. This is modern inclusive history, as it should be written! Nat Love, child of ex-slaves, cowboy and Pullman porter, Samuel Gompers, Andrew Carnegie, Julia Ward Howe, Wade Hampton, Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull and many others populate the book. They are included not to be inclusive but because they have something to say. In every case, they help with the narration by personalizing history and making the national problem a personal one. The result is a fuller richer picture of America and the development of American ideals from 1865 to 1901.

The author, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts, is not the conservative member of the university staff. Her politics show up as sympathy for the labor movement, African Americans and/or Native Americans. For the most part, this is neither excessive nor detracts from the fairness of the narration. The exception is in the Epilogue where she attacks the policies of Presidents Regan and Bush. If you share her liberal politics, this will be the highpoint of the book for you. If you do not, stop reading when you reach the Epilogue and close the book. You will have read a very thought provoking history presenting a detailed and unique view of America and Reconstruction.

Uniform Buttons of the United States, 1776-1865: Button Makers of the United States, 1776-1865; Button Suppliers to the Confederate States, 1800-1865; Antebellum and Civil War Buttons of U.S. Forces

Average customer rating:

Uniform Buttons of the United States, 1776-1865: Warren Tice
Excellent Reference
Uniform Buttons of the United States, 1776-1865
correction of an error
correction of an error

Uniform Buttons of the United States, 1776-1865: Button Makers of the United States, 1776-1865; Button Suppliers to the Confederate States, 1800-1865; Antebellum and Civil War Buttons of U.S. Forces
Warren K. Tice
Manufacturer: Thomas Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

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About Buttons: A Collector's Guide 150 A.D. to the Present

ASIN: 1577470249

Book Description

Already an enormously popular title - An absolute must for all collectors. More than 3500 actual photos of buttons. Nearly every make and style is represented and identified with key variations shown.

Customer Reviews:

Uniform Buttons of the United States, 1776-1865: Warren Tice.......2007-02-01

Nice all around book. Plenty of pics & information. A plus for a collector or investor of Civil War Buttons.

Excellent Reference.......2006-08-24

This is a very well written and informative book. The amount of research to write it must have been staggering. I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in the subject. I have had a little problem finding the meanings for all the symbology used by the author, but this is a minor problem.

Uniform Buttons of the United States, 1776-1865.......2000-09-07

I do not know of any more comprehensive book on American uniform buttons, and I have been heavily involved in the collecting of Civil War buttons for seven years. I have acquired a number of books on the subject, but I use none more frequently than this one. In this field of study, Alpaeus Albert set the standard with his book, "Record of American Uniform and Historical Buttons". Warren Tice makes a number of notable improvements over Albert's book. Tice's book includes many buttons unlisted by Albert. Tice also often gives a short history of the button, or of the military men known to have worn that specific variety of button. Tice also lists more backmarks, and makes many statements concerning the scarcity or availability of certain buttons or varieties of buttons, this is something that Albert neglected to do. Whereas Albert's book is simply a cataloguing of military buttons, Tice's book is a comprehensive and exhaustive study. At the beginning of the book Tice delves into the history of button making, giving information on all known button manufacturers- including a listing of the buttons each manufacturer produced. He then lists and pictures all known buttons of Federal armed forces 1830-1865- including political, patriotic, and personal image, Confederate armed forces, Militia buttons of the 31 states and District of Columbia known to have produced buttons during this period, and a section on unidentified buttons of the Antebellum and Civil War period. All in all, this is a wealth of information that no military button collector should be without. I would feel as if I were buying and trading blindly without it. It is noteworthy that Tice does not list button values in this book. Tice does sell a seperate book that lists only values; this book is of use only to the collector of non- excavated buttons. If Civil War buttons are your interest, and you collect excavated, as well as nonexcavated I recommend the North South Traders "Civil War Collector's Price Guide. Good luck with your button collecting, I know this book will be a useful and irreplaceable addition to your personal library.

correction of an error.......2000-06-05

This book is really well written, with two major errors from my viewpoint. My gg uncle was William C. Wildt, son of William Wildt of Richmond, Va, who made buttons with the imprint of W. Wildt and Son, Richmond, VA. The correction is that there were two brothers who came from Prussia: Julius and William. William had two children, William C., and Elisa Wildt. Julius had one child, Julius, Jr. Julius, Jr. was a hunchback, and an artist. We have one of his paintings. He manufactured buttons for the Confederate Army with a Mr. Kline, in Columbia, SC. William C. Wildt manufactured buttons with his father, William, in Richmond, VA. After the Civil War, he moved to Rockford City, Illinois, and married a lady named Agnes, who was from Madison, Wisconsin. William C. also served as Vice Consul and Consulate Agent in Honduras for the US in the 1890's, and died in Illinois in 1908. Julius, Jr. and his mother, Elizabeth Wildt, died of Spanish flu in Richmond, VA., in 1918. William C.'s sister, Elisa Wildt, married Numa Robert, divorced him in June of 1865, and married Ernst Kahl. She died in 1941 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. O. F. Ostergren, my grandmother. If anyone knows the web address of Mr. Warren K. Tice, please ask him to contact me.

correction of an error.......2000-06-05

Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

U.S. Grant in his own words...
Review of Memoirs of US Grant
A Masterpiece
A History Buff's Wet Dream...
essential

Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)
Ulysses S. Grant
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Letters & Correspondence | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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The Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (Civil War Library)

ASIN: 0940450585

Book Description

Grant wrote his "Personal Memoirs" to secure his family's future. In doing so, the Civil War's greatest general won himself a unique place in American letters. His character, sense of purpose, and simple compassion are evident throughout this deeply moving account, as well as in the letters to his wife, Julia, included here.

Customer Reviews:

U.S. Grant in his own words..........2007-06-26

U.S. Grant is often said to have been a failure at everything in his life except his marriage, war, and his memoirs. The latter, written as he was dying of throat cancer in 1884-1885, provide a straightforward account of his years in uniform during the Civil War.

Grant passes quickly over his Ohio boyhood and time at the United States Military Academy. His service in the Mexican War and his financial misfortunes out of uniform between the wars get only slightly more coverage. His story really begins with his return to uniform in 1861 as a commander of Illinois volunteers. The narrative follows Grant's campaigns in Missouri, Tennessee, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, his elevation to supreme command of the Union Armies, and the final grinding agony of the war in Virgina. The account ends with the cessation of hostilies in 1865.

Grant's memoirs are remarkable reading for a number of reasons. First, they provide insight into the first-rate military mind of a consistantly successful general. Grant's ability to determine the essentials of a situation and remain focused on them are evident. Second, the memoirs are a classic example of clear, simple, English narrative. Third, they display the considerable modesty of a naturally reserved man, a departure from the egotism often found in the personal memoirs of famous men. Grant himself continues to be something of a mystery to historians; these memoirs do not really lift the veil of his sense of privacy.

The Union Army of the Civil War had more than its fair share of politicians in uniform and politically-minded generals. Grant was not immune to spinning history his way; careful-eyed scholars have found more than a few instances where Grant remembered only part of the story or settled a few scores with old opponents. Nevertheless, Grant's memoirs are a valuable resource for understanding the conduct of the Civil War, not least because Grant became such a key figure in the winning of it.

Grant's memoirs are highly recommended to students of the Civil War, and to scholars seeking to understand the art of war in the midst of rebellion.

Review of Memoirs of US Grant.......2006-07-10

General Grant's use of the English language is very interesting and informative. Absolutely a pleasure to read.

A Masterpiece.......2006-02-22

This book is a must-read for any Civil War or American history buff. Grant's writing is consistently clear, elegant, beautiful. He gives an engaging account of his wartime experiences that are accurate to the best of his ability, and he writes with introspection and humility. The personal letters at the end of the volume reveal much about this fascinating man, and are a welcome addition. Please read this one! Another wonderful book in this series is the volume containing Frederick Douglass's autobiographical works.

A History Buff's Wet Dream..........2006-01-17

This is certainly a great book, and in parts, it is a good book. Grant has a very terse, matter-of-fact style, which makes for easy reading. The bulk of the book is devoted to the Civil War, and there are dry patches, and multitudes of "We went to the ridge, and then to the river, and moved our artillery up to the picket" and such-like. But that is what happened, and so you can't fault Grant for his meticulous detailing of troop movements, correspondence with fellow officers, etc. As I said, the great majority of the book is devoted to the Civil War, and there is not a word about Grant's tenure in the White House. Personally, of all topics covered by Grant, I find him to be most fascinating on the subject of the Mexican-American War of 1847. This is not something commonly focused on in history classes, but Grant's account is riveting. Additionally, Grant's remembrances of Lincoln are very interesting, as is his almost awed reverence for the military abilities of Sherman. The book is long, but it doesn't seem long, and if you have a love of history, this is indispensable stuff.

essential.......2005-10-04

A unique chronicle of one who saved the Union. Lucid, entertaining, and expansive. A rare view of one of the most important lives in the 19C. Highly recommended

General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier : A Biography

Average customer rating:

I disagree with the title.....
Longstreet the military might
Who is to blame for Gettysburg ?
The Old War Horse Examined
An Amazing Little Book

General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier : A Biography
Jeffry D. Wert
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

From Manassas to Appomattox: General James Longstreet
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ASIN: 0671709216

Amazon.com

This isn't the first biography to be written on Confederate General James Longstreet, but it's the best--and certainly the one that pays the most attention to Longstreet's performance as a military leader. Historian Jeffry D. Wert aims to rehabilitate Longstreet's reputation, which traditionally has suffered in comparison to those of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Some Southern partisans have blamed Longstreet unfairly for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg; Wert corrects the record here. He is not uncritical of Longstreet's record, but he rightly suggests that if Lee had followed Longstreet's advice, the battle's outcome might have been different.

The facts of history cannot be changed, however, and Wert musters them on these pages to advance a bold claim: "Longstreet, not Jackson, was the finest corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia; in fact, he was arguably the best corps commander in the conflict on either side." Wert describes his subject as strategically aggressive, but tactically reserved. The bulk of the book appropriately focuses on the Civil War, but Wert also briefly delves into Longstreet's life before and after it. Most interestingly, it was framed by a friendship with Ulysses S. Grant, formed at West Point and continuing into old age. Longstreet even served in the Grant administration--an act that called into question his loyalty to the Lost Cause, and explains in part why Wert's biography is a welcome antidote to much of what has been written about this controversial figure. --John J. Miller

Book Description

General James Longstreet fought in nearly every campaign of the Civil War, from Manassas (the first battle of Bull Run) to Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, and was present at the surrender at Appomattox. Yet, he was largely held to blame for the Confederacy's defeat at Gettysburg. General James Longstreet sheds new light on the controversial commander and the man Robert E. Lee called "my old war horse."

Customer Reviews:

I disagree with the title............2007-07-30

....but not much else. General Braxton Bragg was, and is, the South's most controversial solder. With that out of the way....

.....to the subject. This is an absolutely superb study of a man who was a genius far ahead of his time. Another author once wrote an article speculating as to which Civil War General, were he to rise from the dead and get a shave, would have the shortest "learning curve" to become a General in the modern Army; his answer was James Longstreet, and he may very well be right [my own answer was Bragg...there I go again]. Both men were 20th century Generals trying to fight the last 18th. century war; naturally, there were some problems.

James Longstreet was born in South Carolina of a Georgia family, but he was certainly not of the old Southern aristocracy in the way Lee, Johnston, Polk, and others were. The original family name was Langestraet, and they were Dutch from New Jersey who moved to Georgia. Longstreet went to West Point and then commenced a career of one boring assignment after another, in an Army where promotion only came when somebody died. The war in Mexico proved he was a real soldier, but afterwards he was a lowly paymaster in Texas.

When the war came, he went South just because his state did. Had his family stayed in New Jersey, Lee would have had a very tough opponent, instead of his "Old War Horse". Longstreet commanded the First Corps thru the whole war, except for his detached service in Suffolk that kept him out of Chancellorsville, and the months after Gettysburg when he was in Tennessee. Severely wounded in The Wilderness, he returned, and was with Lee at the end.

Longstreet was loved by his troops; he fought on the defensive, never wasting his men's lives. He could march, and charge, as well as Jackson when necessary, but preferred to let the enemy make the mistakes. Further, he was "human", sharing the vices of his troops, unlike Lee and Jackson. At Second Manassas and Antietam he proved his greatness, and at Fredericksburg came his finest hour as wave after wave of Blue troops bravely, but foolishly, charged up Mayre's Heights.

Gettysburg...THAT is where most discussions of James Longstreet begin and end. He and Lee had different ideas as to how [and whether] to fight the battle, and Lee was the boss. Longstreet [and Hood] wanted to move to the right, get between Meade and Washington, and hold on the defensive. Lee wanted to fight the enemy where he was. Who was right? God knows that what we did didn't work, but we forget that it dern near did. Lee took the blame; as commander, that was proper. Dick Ewell's lethargy and Jeb Stuart's independent brashness weren't noted at the time, though they contributed massively to the Confederate defeat. Generations of Southerners have blamed Longstreet for Gettysburg, but that didn't start till well after the war, and the causes were political, not military. I guess my own opinion of who was right is obvious, but I yet maintain that Robert E. Lee was the greatest soldier that ever lived.

After the war, Longstreet was a cotton merchant in New Orleans, and did well until he wrote a letter in 1867 essentially stating that the South needed to build a bridge and get over it; for this, he remained an outcast the rest of his life. Dr. Freeman stated that after the war, if a man "became a Republican or consorted with Negroes", those sins would never be forgiven. Longstreet was reduced to living on Republican political appointments. [Billy Mahone likewise became an apostate, but at least he became rich; Beauregard said nothing; he simply got over the bridge to wealth. But Beauregard was always different]. Longstreet wrote his memoirs, but did it badly, and made his cause worse.

This is a superb book that does a wonderful job defending a man who, in a just world, would need no defense...I've saved the best till last...the opening two pages of the book, describing General Longstreet's appearance at the dedication of the Lee statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond in 1890, is the very finest piece of historical writing I have ever read, anytime, anywhere. Period. The other Generals saw James Longstreet as an apostate, but his old troops knew what made a leader, and loved him for it.

Longstreet the military might.......2007-07-16

I like how the book goes into detail on General Lee and the problems of being a Staff Officer under a "Demagod". General Longstreet's request for a flanking movement, if greated by General Lee, could have changed the course of the war.

Who is to blame for Gettysburg ?.......2007-01-31

Historians since 1865 have blamed General James Longstreet for the Confederacy losing the Battle at Gettysburg. This book places the blame on Robert E Lee, which after reading this book as well as other books recently, I would tend to agree with that assumption. The writer seems to be a Longstreet fan though, and seems to add to Longstreet's capability as a General, while placing the blame for several Confederate losses on General Stonewall Jackson which I do not agree with at all. In essence, the writer's purpose of the book is to clear Longstreet's name at the expense of Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson, as well as other Generals that Longstreet came in contact with during the Civil War. Unfortunately the author feels that is the only way to clear Longstreet's name.

The Old War Horse Examined.......2006-12-29

General James Longstreet was one of the major corps commanders in the Confederate Army. At one point, General Robert E. Lee referred to Longstreet as his "Old War Horse." Nonetheless, considerable controversy swirls around Longstreet.

This book does a solid job on outlining the controversy and Longstreet's record. One theme in the South after the Civil War was the "Lost Cause" thesis. Here, Longstreet was a central element. The author, Jeffry Wert, says (page 14):

"A significant. . .victim of the 'Lost Cause' interpretation of the conflict was James Longstreet. A crucial element of the myth was that the Confederacy nearly attained victory except for the mortal wounding of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville and the defeat of Robert E. Lee's army at Gettysburg two months later. . . . The burden for Gettysburg fell on Longstreet. . . ."

This book lays out a nicely rendered biography of Longstreet. A series of helpful maps provides context throughout the work. The book takes a standard approach and provides detail on Longstreet's early life and career (his action in the Mexican War and his friendhip with Ulysses Grant). The work chronicles his rise in the Confederate Army after war broke out. He went from commander of a small unit at First Manassas to division commander to corps commander in a fairly short period of time, matching Stonewall Jackson's rise in responsibility. Both had poor moments in the Peninsula Campaign; by the end of the Seven Days, Longstreet had grown considerably. By Second Manassas, Jackson and Longstreet were the two corps commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia and both performed well.

By that time, certain aspects of Longstreet's style became clear. At Second Manassas, he delayed attack until the situation was to his liking. Just slow? Or calculated to gain maximum effect against the Union forces under General John Pope? Then Antietam, where Longstreet gained the nom de guerre of "My Old War Horse" from Lee.

Fredericksburg? The classic Longstreet-favored approach. Take a position and let the Yankees attack and lose large numbers of troops. Longstreet was convinced that the Confederacy could not fight long odds battles with fewer men than in the Union army. He missed Chancellorsville, while on a mission on the Peninsula. Then Gettysburg. Was he petulant and someone who undermined the Confederate effort and chances of victory? Or was he clear eyed, seeing the impending defeat? Wirt addresses this issue in a sensitive manner.

Later, we see Longstreet at his worst (feuding with Braxton Bragg and performing badly against the pathetic Ambrose Burnside at Knoxville) and at his best (his tour de force rolling up Winfield Scott Hancock's line at the Wilderness). With respect to the latter, as he was planning yet another movement against the Union army, he was shot by other Confederate troops.

After a lengthy convalescence, he rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, fought with Lee until the end of the Civil War. Then, he became a Republican (alienating many southerners), criticized Lee while defending his own record (heresy to the south), and overall had a checkered career.

Nonetheless, this book provides useful context for evaluating Longstreet. One fair conclusion is that he was one of the best corps commanders on either side (there were a lot of bad ones and some very good ones)--but one who also was far from perfect (again, note his performance under Braxton Bragg). A nice book for those wanting to know more about "The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier" (the book's subtitle).

An Amazing Little Book.......2006-02-19

I was fourteen years old, and we were discussing the Civil War in history class. I had an especially enthusiastic teacher and several well-informed friends, and a desire to learn about the War Between the States was fast budding within me. By the strangest stroke of luck, I found this very same book on a bookshelf at home. Was it my fathers? Was it divine intervention? I don't know the answer, but I started to read it, and I didn't put it down. Several years and countless books later, I'm considering pursuing a PhD in history (specializing in the Civil War era.) Fate?

This books is wonderful both as an account of Longstreet's life and, surprisingly, as a general introduction to the war in the East (plus a bit about Longstreet's stint in the West.) Wert provides well-detailed descriptions of the tactical elements of each battle involving Longstreet without becoming boring, even to the inexperienced reader. His views on Longstreet are intriguing and thought provoking, and a more balanced and objective account is, as far as I've read, not to be found.

I apologize if my rather sentimental past with this particular tome has skewed my analysis of it, but this book will always hold a special place in my heart.

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