1 comments about The Civil War Reminiscences of General Basil W. Duke, C.S.A.

1. Basil Duke was a former editor of the Southern Bivouac and helped spread pro-Confederate literature after the Civil War. His Reminiscences offer an inside loom at the various facets of the Confederacy. Buke looks at the truth and beliefs about CSA Generals such as Albert Sidney Johnson and Braxton Bragg. He talks about what the Confederate people thought during the war, and what has happened during Reconstruction.

   The Civil War scholar should have a copy of this book to refer to; it is an accessible and easy to obtain primary source.

No comments about The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston: 1839-1845 (Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston).

No comments about Blue Tide Rising: A memoir of the Union Army in North Carolina.

1 comments about Recollections of the Civil War.

1. I liked Charles Dana's book. It is breezy and topical, not detailed or exhaustive. But it does its job well.

   Mr. Dana had a uniqe perspective on the Civil War. First enlisted to go "out West" and check out "this General Grant" by Edwin Stanton, Dana soon became a trusted advisor to both the President and the Secretary of War. He apparently spent most of his war service in the field, at the side of various union generals so that Washington would have a trusted and immediate voice to report on what was really happening on the various fronts. His advice helped advance officers Dana thought effective and cashire those whose service was detrimental to the cause of the Union. His advice and counsel was also influential on various war policy issues.

   One belives that Dana had much to do in helping Grant, Sherman and others overcome their reputations and distance from Washington to reach their appointed places from where Union success ultimately sprung. He is a concise writer and offers strong opinions on personalities associated with the Union's management and prosecution of the war. These are interesting because Dana is often quoted in more recent books on the war. His story helps show why these quotes are meaningful as well as tells an interesting tale of an individual who can best be described as the highest ranking civilian in the field from 1863-1865.

   An interesting book from a unique vantage point.

No comments about General Ashcroft: Attorney at War.

No comments about The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln.

2 comments about The Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis: The Great Union Guide of East Tennessee for a Period of Nearly Four Years During the Great Southern Rebellion.

1. Daniel Ellis was a Unionist East Tennessean during the Civil War. An exiled fugitive for participating in bridge burning, he took to guiding escaped prisoners, southern deserters, slaves, and all manner of refugees through the mountains to the Union lines. He eventually became captain of Company A in the 13th Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, U.S.A.

   "Thrilling Adventures" is Ellis' memoir, recounting the brutal hardships he had to endure during his years on the run. Written shortly after the war, it is tainted by his still-burning fury toward the Confederacy. The book has been criticized for perceived exaggerations, but its true excesses are in its narrative style, full of classical allusions and long-winded melodrama -- elements long since gone out of fashion.

   Given its faults in narrative and Ellis' understandable lack of objectivity, the book is an accurate account of life in southern Appalachia during the Civil War. The region in that era is receiving increasing attention, most notably in Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (which acknowledges Ellis' Thrilling Adventures) and Cameron Judd's Mountain War trilogy...




2. Originally, this 1989 Overmountain Press reprint was to have a two-page biographical sketch of Daniel Ellis to accompany the index. These pages were inadvertently omitted during printing. An unknown quantity of volumes has pages 430a/430b (titled, "Biographical Sketch and Index") tipped-in by the publisher.

3 comments about General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man.

1. De Capo Press sent me an Advance Reading copy. The book is scheduled for publication in July 2006 and this review is based on the copy. Longacre is a well-known Civil war historian with a large number of books to his credit. This is his tenth book I found published since 2000 with a quick search on Amazon, five of them are biographies of Civil War figures. The problem I have is that his books seem rushed and lack scholarship. This is a standard work on Grant with a couple of reinterpretations, something a very gifted armature could write.
   The events in the book have been told and retold in general histories many times and the book adds nothing to them. The interpretation of Grant's drinking problem is very current thinking and the author struggles to place it as early as possible. Taking the word or the speculation of a single person Grant seems to have a drinking problem in Mexico. His joining the Sons of Temperance, which is not a forerunner of AA, is used as proof of a problem, well before his posting to the Pacific cost. While interesting, nothing to counter this "evidence" is given and the reader is left to accept the author's case or look elsewhere.
   
   The interpretation of Grant's childhood might be the strength of the book. In place of the "Useless" childhood that has been generally accepted. Longacre gives us a mixed bag; Grant is honest to a fault, lacks social graces and has no head for business. Grant is also the best horsemen in the area. A skill that generates respect and money even for a young boy. This seems to ring truer than the town fool who becomes the North's best General and President. Grant is pictured as very intelligent, hard working and easily bored. His parents are shown in a very unflattering light, especially his Mother. Grant is well known to have had problems with his parents and the book bears down on this.
   
   Julia is slower to fall in love with Grant than many stories credit, Longacre has her more resistant to his suite. He stays with the good wife, mother and supporter of Grant that history accepts.
   
   Overall, this is an enjoyable read and a good introduction to U. S. Grant; it is not a serious bio and will not increase our understanding of the man.



2. Dozens of biographies about Grant have appeared in the past decade. The General has experienced a renaissance among historians (and those who aspire to the title.) His reputation has been enriched but the great biography has yet to be written. This book doesn't come close to greatness. It will have to settle for a boring mediocrity which is a shame, since Ulysses Grant was neither dull nor average.
   
   This book brings absolutely nothing new to the table. It's a basic biography with no frills and little to recommend it. Longacre has written half a dozen books in the Civil War genre and they're noted to be tedious and written in an unusually spare style. No fireworks here, no novel interpretations of USG, no new facts revealed. The details of his life are laid out in a mind-numbing chronological style and the author borrows liberally from previous (and superior) Grant biographies.
   
   It's amazing that so many authors tackle the subject of Grant but never unveil anything that wasn't known 100 years ago. Longacre quotes the same old stories that have been told a thousand times previously. His attempts to vary the standard interpretations of Grant fall conspicuously flat, though he's to be commended for the effort. Despite what anyone says, Grant was never an alcoholic and his marriage was happy. Longacre's clumsy attempts to paint the Grant marriage as occasionally strained are desperate attempts to throw some spice into the mix. Similarly, a casual exploration of the Sons of Temperance would have revealed it was not a precursor to A.A.
   
   Essentially this is a dull book about a great man. Don't bother with this trifle. If you already know about Grant this book will teach you nothing. If you're new to the subject, look elsewhere.



3. This is a strange book, as it gives the impression that the only reason for it being written and published at all is to act as propaganda for the theory that Grant was an alcoholic. Longacre seems positively obsessed with the "drinking issue," showing scant interest in any other aspect of Grant's important and compelling life story. Every negative story ever told about Grant's alleged problem with the bottle, no matter how questionable, or even discredited, it may be, is trotted out as solid fact, while any evidence to the contrary is either ignored or casually belittled. This is not a biography; it is a prosecutor's argument to a jury.
   
   Grant's pre-war life (nearly forty years!) is given merely a brief, shallow assessment, his post-1865 years are ignored entirely, (probably because tales of Grant's drinking sprees become few and far between after the war,) and the bulk of the book--Longacre's account of the Civil War itself--says nothing that you could not find in a million other books and magazine articles. In fact, most of "The Soldier and the Man" reads like Brooks Simpson's "Triumph Over Adversity" after being pickled in alcohol.
   
   In short, unless you share Longacre's single-minded fascination with the notion that Grant was nothing but a white-knuckled drunk, you will find little in this book to excite your interest.

5 comments about Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years/One-Volume Edition (The Library of the Presidents).

1. This biography of lincoln is an unbiased look into the man's life. You'll find everything you would expect and much, much, more. This is not a book for the weak hearted reader. Many of the sections seem to be endless. This is not however a negative, the opposite is true. Sandburg's quest for a truly indepth redering of the Lincoln story creates these long spells and the pay off is just. Much of the humor in the book is dated and therefore will be lost on many readers. Once again, an outstanding book that gets an easy 5 stars.



2. I collect old and rare books. My mother bought me a copy of Sandburg's one-volume edition published in 1954. Honestly, it was slow to start, but once it got to the 1850's, I couldn't put it down. Lincoln's deeds are so often trivialized in our history books. But Sandburg meticulously builds up the background in a way that forces his reader to appreciate the magnitude of the moment, and the importance of each decision--whether right or wrong--that President Lincoln made. It easily took three full weeks to read, but it was more than worth it. I closed the book thinking, "I can't believe it's over!" My advice: Read this book right away, and make someone else read it too. You'll need someone to talk to when you're through!



3. I believe Sandburg is the only author to win the Pulitzer for both poetry and history. Originally a multi volume history taking decades to complete, this single volume work is an appetizer. I read it in the 1960's and went on with relish to the full multi volume work.

   This single volume is insightful, laser like in it's detail yet painting the times of Lincoln in a broad and beautiful brush. Did you know that in 1860 tools could be honed to within one ten thousandth of an inch of accuracy? That magazines and newspapers said the world would change for-ever because of the new "instant" communication nation wide?

   This is more than biography. It is a woven fabric depicting the times and life of Abraham Lincoln.




4. Thousands upon thousands of Civil War books are available, as American readers seem to have a limitless appetite for that era. If you are looking for the best, read Sandburg on Lincoln. A major American poet takes on one of the best-known, best-loved, most tragic of American historical figures.

   When I was a freshman in high school, our English teacher offered us a deal: Anyone who read Sandburg's biography (then in six rather daunting volumes) would not have to attend class for a semester. I took him up on that offer, and was blessed to find my way through Sandburg's gift to the American people. Here is the highly detailed, thoroughly researched, and articulately written story of Abe Lincoln's years among us.

   If you have time to read only one of the Civil War books from that burgeoning genre, read this one. You will come to know, from the inside out, this prairie boy who became a towering figure in American history.




5. Abraham Lincoln comes to life through the words of his devoted and talented biographer, Carl Sandburg. This edition is an excellent compromise between Sandburg's six-volume edition and the shorter, incomplete texts that abound regarding Lincoln. Take your time with this masterpiece and follow Lincoln from youth through the climax of his political career in Washington.

2 comments about Gray Cavalier: The Life and Wars of General William H. F. "Rooney" Lee.

1. This is an excellent biography, carefully researched and documented, of a man of great character. This interesting book thoroughly explores the life of the favorite son of the South's most famous general, admired by all-- both North and South. Must reading by those interested in Southern History and American Cavalry.



2. This is a well-written biography of a reliable and capable cavalry officer. Rooney Lee was often over-shadowed by the flashier officers of the Army of Northern Virginia cavalry, including his cousin Fitzhugh Lee. However, as becomes evident from the facts of Rooney's career, he was probably a more consistent performer than Fitzhugh and was probably comparable in skill and courage under fire to Wade Hampton. His personal life is one of stoic handling of numerous tragedies. The book is pleasantly written and makes use of contemporary sources and letters, although few of those written by Rooney actually survive. Rooney Lee did not take advantage of his father's position and made his mark on the Confederacy by his ability and personality.