No comments about Barefoot Soldier: A Story of Extreme Valour.

5 comments about Confederate Tide Rising: Robert E. Lee and the Making of Southern Strategy, 1861-1862.

1. An overview of the war to the summer of 62. The ideas presented are well grounded and provoke real thought. Not a book that will sit well with many readers but a worthwhile addition to any Civil War Library. Read this and than read "Taken at the Flood".



2. I've had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Harsh for several years after taking a class on the Civil War with him at George Mason University.

   This book came out of the seperation into three books of a manuscript he wrote on Gen. Lee and the campaign just prior to the Maryland campaign and then the Maryland campaign itself. This book is immensely readable and quite detailed. Dr. Harsh is quite blunt when there is a lack of clear evidence on a subject and the reasons for his judgment are well reasoned and sound. My opinion of Confederate strategy and the role of Jefferson Davis in the formation of that strategy changed a great deal after reading Confederate Tide Rising. While he is not the subject of this book, my view of Gen. Jackson also changed as the result of reading this book. Due to his performance in many of the battles and lead up to the battles discussed in this book, it's obvious to me that Jackson has been overrated by historians and could have been much more criticized by Gen. Lee than he was. That he did not do so postwar and only midly criticized Jackson in the action discussed in this book says a lot about Gen. Lee the man.

   There are only a few drawbacks to this book. The first is that Dr. Harsh sometimes I think assumes knowledge of minor engagements and also political developments which were important but not directly germaine to his discussion that the reader may not possess. He would have been better served to not just mention these engagements and political developments and leave the reader wondering but to further discuss these developments and their importance, such as the Trent affair which he mentions twice before discussing what it was.
   My second gripe with this book has been noted by a previous reviewer. There is a woeful lack of maps, which I think is simply unforgivable in any military history book. As Dr. Harsh clearly demonstrates, terrain and locations are particularly important in civil war battles and helped determine the tactics and strategy employed by Gen. Lee, Gen. McClellan and Gen. Pope. I have a working knowledge of some of the places discussed in the book because I live near many of them, however many readers in other parts of the country who do not have an extensive knowledge of the Civil War yet, may not. The lack of maps would really hamper their understanding of Dr. Harsh's points.

   However, one thing that helps this book despite all that is Dr. Harsh's discussion of several terms and their uses in books on the the Civil War as well as how the Civil War generals themselves would have understood those terms such as strategy and tactics. This sort of a discussion is absent in most works on the war and I believe really hampers the understanding of many who look to gain knowledge on the war.

   Overall, this book is essential for any Civil War bookshelf and should be accompanied by Dr. Harsh's other two books, Taken at the Flood and Sounding the Shallows.




3. Joseph Harsh, the author, analyzes Confederate war strategy from Fort Sumter through the Battle of Second Manassas stating that it was not true that the all the South wanted was "to be left alone." Declaring independence did not guarantee independence, and the author states the South thus "pursued three closely related but distinct war aims: independence, territorial integrity and the union of all the slave states."

   The text notes that statistically the South could not win. To overcome the odds, the Confederacy needed to conserve its resources while inflicting unacceptable casualties on the North. The text explains the doctrines of the Swiss military theorist Jomini, the probable basis for Jefferson Davis's doctrine of the "offensive-defense." Davis's doctrine provided a firm strategic framework within which Confederate generals in the field could work. By October 1861, pursuing the offensive-defense considerable progress toward achieving Confederate war aims was made; followed next by reversals of Southern fortunes resulting in part from the failure to continue the policies/strategies that yielded early successes.

   On June 1, 1862 Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, when Joseph Johnson was wounded. The offensive-defensive policy was already in practice and was not initiated by Lee as some contend. By "late May 1862, the South had nearly lost the war. Lee knew that Jefferson Davis expected him to go on the offensive to save Richmond and to reclaim Virginia. Harsh also notes "Lee chose the offensive because he wanted to win the war, and he thought it offered the only chance. He believed the defensive was the sure path to defeat." His first response was the Seven Days Battle, whose strategy/execution contained errors, but nevertheless relieved the pressure on Richmond.

   The author gives an excellent account of the strategic/tactical problems during the Seven Days Campaign and the events leading to the Battle of Second Manassas. Richmond was a major railroad center, banking center, manufacturing center, milling center and its lost would have been serious. It was important that the city is not captured and that Virginia is reclaimed. After the Seven Days Campaign Lee lost the initiative and was in a strategic stalemate that didn't end until Union General McClellan's Army of the Potomac was ordered back to Washington thereby ending the threat to Richmond.

   The text gives an excellent account of the development of Lee's field strategies before and throughout the Battle of Second Manassas. The author notes as the battle neared its climax "Lee desperately wanted to finish the task at hand by destroying the army of.... Pope." However a frontal assault was the only option; and Lee couldn't afford the losses a frontal assault would incur. Nonetheless the author notes following the Second Manassas "Through chance, risk and much bloodshed, he and the Army of Northern Virginia were cobbling together the series of rapid victories that might lead to Northern demoralization and Confederate independence." The text ends with the Battle of Second Manassas and closes with six appendixes that discuss strategy questions.

   While this an excellent work, my major criticism is an almost total lack of suitable maps. I read the chapters on the Battle of Second Manassas with a copy of Hennessy's book on Second Manassas at hand for its maps. While much can be gained from this book without prior study of the first eighteen months of the Civil War, prior reading of history about the period covered by this book will greatly aid the reader in comprehending Harsh's text.




4. This is the second book Joseph Harsh wrote on the Antietam Campaign and Southern strategy in 1861 -1862. Again, the reader's knowledge of the Civil War is challenged by series logical well-supported ideas. This book sets the stage for "Taken at the Flood" by establishing the strategy and events that resulted in the Antietam Campaign. This book can be read as a stand-alone history or with "Taken at the Flood". If read together, this is best read first even considering the review of Southern strategy at the start of the second book.
   
   Beginning with an overview of CSA war aims, we are walked through the first months of the war learning how events shape strategy. When Lee assumes command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the author details how the victories in the summer of 1862 change strategy and lead to the invasion of Maryland in September. This is the heart of the book, showing Lee simultaneously both directing and being trapped by events. Once again, we are placed in real-time seeing events not as history but as happening now. This allows us to understand what they knew and why the acted as they did. Often, they had the wrong, incomplete or misleading information but something had to be done.



5. Absent any hardcore evidence evinced by a Confederate JCS or NSC numbered document Harsh proposes that Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee both understood that the Confederacy had three major war aims; independence, territorial integrity and the union of all slave states. He gives the "Lost Cause" advocates a respectful if necessarily brief hearing before noting that it was the Confederacy who first invaded Maryland, Kentucky and the New Mexico/Arizona territories before a single federal soldier crossed the Potomac and then goes to some length, particularly for 208 pages, to rationalize the South's essentially offensive, in as much as it could be, strategy.
   Longstreet devotees will recognize Baron Henri Jomini's appearance again and the recapitulation of his "defensive-offensive" strategy, although Harsh prefers to label the South's version as "offensive-defensive", for as apparently Jomini was fond of saying, "he who stands on the defense is everywhere anticipated". The linchpin of Harsh's argument is Lee's decision, following Second Manassas, to invade the North. He asserts, with some evidence, that Lee particularly understood that the terrible mathematics of Union superiority in "numbers, resources, and all the means and appliances for carrying on the war" made the hope of a strictly Southern military victory unlikely indeed. But Lee also apparently understood (surprisingly for me) the political difficulties facing the Southern cause; the North would "be shrewd enough to make the war appear to be merely a struggle on our part for the maintenance of slavery; and we shall thus be without sympathy, and most certainly without material aid from other powers." Most significantly from Harsh's standpoint, not only did Lee have an excellent grasp of the political situation, but his strategy was always keyed with this very much in mind.
   Harsh's argument, if true, lends greater depth to one of this country's most revered, and ultimately tragic heroes who, on the eve of Appomattox was heard to say, "A few more Sailor's Creeks and it will be all over - ended - just as I have expected it would end from the first."

1 comments about Edward A. Wild And the African Brigade in the Civil War.

1. General Edward A. Wild was one of the more controversial officers of the Civil War. A staunch abolitionist, after losing an arm at South Mountain (prelude to Antietam), Wild aided Massachusetts governor John Andrews in raising all-black fighting units. A number of black regiments were created and together were known as the African Brigade. Sent to South Carolina, Wild and his men arrived only weeks after the action at Battery Wagner that saw the heroism of 54th Massachusetts Volunteers (Colored) and the death of its leader, Robert Shaw.
   
   Wild was an unyielding defender of his black troops and their ability to be the equal of any soldiers in the army. His outspokenness and, at times, disobedience of orders, on their behalf got Wild in trouble. He hated Southern sympathizers and especially guerrilla fighters; his treatment of them was at time horrendous. In 1864 he led a raid through northeastern North Carolina against these "land pirates" (Wild's words). Sometimes prisoners taken (these might include civilians, even women, and not just soldiers) would be tortured, even hanged. Authorities North and South became outraged at Wild's actions. Eventually he was court martialed and demoted (for disobeying orders and not for his treatment of others). Suspended from the battlefield for 6 months, he returned in time to lead the XXV Corps before Richmond in April 1865. After the war Wild stirred up more controversy with his confiscation of private property in Georgia as a member of the Freedman's Bureau. The last years of his life were spent silver and gold mining, first in Nevada, then in Canada, and finally in Colombia, South America, where he died in 1891.
   
   His wife probably summoned up Wild best: "He was very heroic, he would not give up, he had a very strong will and proved it all his life." Sometimes that "strong will" got him in a lot of trouble and prevented him from seeing how his actions might be misconstrued or outright wrong. But it also made him a hero to his black troops, who saw a man willing to fight for his convictions and their rights.
   
   Casstevens presents a thoroughly researched and detailed account of her subject's life (though 90% of the book deals only with his Civil War years). The information is presented in bullet fashion: short subsections within each chapter dealing with specific events or incidents. Style is not a concern with Casstevens, only presenting the facts in a clear, straightforward manner. In that she succeeds well. The notes, bibliography, and index are excellent; the book is definitely designed for the researcher in mind.

1 comments about Boys to Men: Stories of men who served aboard the USS Perkins during World War II.

1. Interesting stories of life as it was before, during & after the war. Surprising these men could remember all the details in the book!

5 comments about Roberts Ridge: A Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan.

1. Interesting book on a small action in the war in Afganistan. Brave troops can't overcome poor leadership.



2. Very moving story! I am glad that Mr. MacPherson did not give up and saw this book through to its conclusion.
   This is a story is taken from multiple viewpoints to form a more complete understanding of what happened atop Takur Ghar. As this story unfolds you are able to see in your mind everything that happens. Also interesting is the benefits and ills of modern technology and how it affects modern warfare. A great book and a must read!!
   
   It will surely remain a lasting tribute to all those brave soldiers and airmen who lived and died through it.



3. "Roberts Ridge" tells it like it is! Rather hard to follow at times, and that's partially the fault of the author. But, in his favor, given the convoluted command structure that was in place at the time of the ill fated recon & subsequent rescue attempts on Takur Ghar, he does the best he can. I was constantly going back through the text trying to figure out who was calling which shots during this action. The book does provide an insider's look at the "Fog of War" and the confusion resulting therefrom. It also is an outstanding tale of courage and fortitude on the part of the Navy Seals, USAF Spec Ops, and Army Rangers who were involved in this combat operation. And there's sadness inasmuch as the casualties incurred by all the fine US forces involved need not have happened. JKBelew in Texas, an Old Marine & lifelong military history student.



4. This book pays a great tribute to American commandos during a battle on a mountain high altitude, ice, wind at night in Afghanistan lead by special forces commandos. The spirit is high. Fierce combats. The ennemy is dreadful. Very nice work.



5. WOW!! What an incredible story. This is a book you will not soon put down. A thrilling account of America's finest special forces and their attempt to resuce Navy Seals ambushed in Afghanistan. The story is full of detail. I can get a little confusing with who is who due to all the soldiers the involved this account, but nonetheless it is a well documented and well written book.
   It really is a book our youth should read. It will give them and all of Americans an inside look at how courageous, selfless, honorable, and down right tough as nails our soldiers truly are! They are truly our proud and our brave!!
   Rangers Lead The Way!

4 comments about The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest (The American Crisis Series).

1. Let me see if I can clear up some of the misinformation floating around about this book:
   
   1. This book is not, nor does it claim to be a history of Nathan Bedford Forrest. It is an always-compelling, often-convincing retelling of the emergence of an American myth. The authors are at places concerned with "facts" and "truths," but more to the point they focus on how something seemingly as concrete as "fact" or "truth" morphs into mythology. In this quest, they've chosen their subject well, as hardly a figure in American culture lends itself so favorably to such an effort.
   
   2. The authors use well-known literary devices to draw out their subject. They do not call Forrest a comic book character but use the analogy to illustrate a point. They do not liken him to Forrest Gump but merely note the power of NBF's legacy, a legacy so enduring that many a Southern lad has been named "Forrest" in tribute.
   
   3. There is no "bias" against Forrest in this book, nor is there a "bias" for him. For many Southerners, this is a cardinal sin in and of itself. An earlier review claimed the book is full of "manufactured lies." To the contrary, Ashdown and Cawdill are deft in their handling of "facts." They are careful to note where historic information on Forrest is conflicting and describe how this disparity is used to feed competing myths. But, full of lies? Such a claim should always be accompanied by direct quotes from the book.
   
   4. The first-half of the book is indeed the better half, as the second part seems rushed and largely superfluous. Forrest's fame and infamy prevail. We hardly need a laundry list of books and movies to confirm this fact.
   
   Anyone who comes to this book with an agenda - to either praise or bury Forrest - is likely to be disappointed and possibly even incensed when they find nothing to feed their zeal. Objective readers, however, will be well-rewarded.



2. New Yankee Doodle
   
   Yankee Doodle had a mind
   To whip the Southern traitors,
   Because they didn't choose to live
   On codfish and potatoes.
   
   Yankee Doodle, doodle doo,
   Yankee Doodle dandy,
   Aand so to keep his courage up,
   He took a drink of brandy.
   
   He was the best Confederate general of the entire Civil War, according to his superior. Born in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, into a well-to-do family, he was a Southerner born and bred for greatness. After the war, he had ties in Memphis, (a world away from the values and customs of Middle Tennessee) where a park including a statue of him is in existence. There is an unusual statue of him outside Nashville on I65; look for the Confederates flags and you'll marvel at this site created and paid for by a prominent lawyer. This slanderous book (all Myths) was devised by two UTK English professors with false information from Memphis sources.
   
   I can't fanthom why this review was not listed on my site. It is a sore spot for me as I personally told one of the writers that what they had researched is not true. After the book was printed anyway, I told the other one on the phone the same thing. He said the nasty part about Fort Pillow which they based their myth on was in Memphis documentation. That does not make it right or true. None of us at the meeting had heard about what happened at that place, and yet they based a slander about what might not have happened.



3. Let me attempt to tell you something about this book without trying to make it yet another episode in the continuing (after 140 years) saga of the Civil War, which, obviously, in some minds (the world's bloodiest battlefields by far) still rages as ferociously today as it did, say, on a hillside outside a once-peaceful little town in Pennsylvania on a warm July afternoon in 1863.
   
   The book tries to explain how Nathan Bedford Forrest, the man and some of his exploits, became mythologized by various forces (newspaper accounts, biographies, personal reminiscences, popular histories, novels, and movies) down through the years[...]
   
   The first half of the book is by far the best. Where the first half looks carefully at how Southerners and Northerners both looked at Forrest and took from his life-story what best suited them (the South: his fearless personal bravery, his victories in battle, his backwoods reputation and man-of-action personality, his defense for the Lost Cause; the North: his racial butchery at Ft. Pillow, his hate-filled association with the KKK, his guerrilla warfare tactics rather than the "manly, honest" standard tactics practiced by the "better" generals), the second half becomes just a cursory summary of all the books and movies that featured Forrest as a main character.
   
   It's obvious that Forrest still has the ability to touch nerves in this country, especially in the South. The authors attribute Sherman as saying there would never be peace in Tennessee until Forrest was dead; maybe there's still some truth to that. Forrest had very little impact on the outcome of the war (ironically, his own generals shunned him), and the claim that if Forrest had been leading the Southern Armies instead of Lee, the South would have won is wishful thinking that borders on the ludicrous. But that's what myths can do to people - give hope where no hope has any right to exist. Of course in a negative sense myths can also house and comfort bad decisions and poor choices. Forrest's mythology continues to do both, good and bad.



4. We all know that some fictional characters become "real"...James Bond...Sherlock Holmes...heck, you'll never convince me that Nero Wolfe isn't real, and that if I go to 918 West 35th. Street, I won't find him. Conversely, sometimes real people, who lived real lives, become so shrouded in myth and legend that they become "fictional"...Houdini...Babe Ruth...Patrick Henry [a Nurse once engaged me in a hot arguement about him; I never did convince her]... Nathan Bedford Forrest......
   
   This book is an attempt to show him in both aspects. This is NOT a biography of the greatest Cavalry officer who ever lived, and doesn't pretend to be. There is a good, basic, sketch of the high points, and that's sufficient here. Forrest was well and truly real, but a lot of myths have grown up around him. A good portion of those are addressed. For example, the stories of his semiliterate English are exaggerated. Unlike Yogi, he really said the things he said, but not nearly as badly as we've been led to believe. Several novels have used him as a fictional character, but, interestingly, he's never made it to the silver screen. [the portrayl in "Birth of a Nation" is so far off as not to count].
   
   The Civil War continues to generate passions; many of us think if its personages as a living presence. Nathan Bedford Forrest remains controversial, and real, to this day. If you want a full biography, there are several good ones. If you want to look at some aspects of his life that you hadn't thought of before, this volume is a good place to start.

5 comments about Easy Target.

1. I had the privilege to read this book in manuscript form. One of the main characters is Wolfman, who now teaches high school in California to at risk teenagers. I loved the entire experience and felt I actually knew Adam Smith. If you served in VietNam or did'nt you'll find this a riveting account of the terror, fear and heroics of the men flying helicopters during the War. Four stars!



2. Mr. Smith's depiction of daily life in the Cav, brought back many memories. His relating of the inner workings and politics of the cav troop were very accurate. Very good and easy reading.



3. This was one of the best Vietnam War stories I have ever read. I cringed im pain with him as he explained his agony in this long war. I recomend it to anyone.



4. Tom Smith (Pilot), ATOM ANT, Stingray White 24 (2nd use of that number), June, 1969 - May, 1970. Tom is a retired commercial helicopter pilot. He now lives in Maui with his wife and son. The book "Easy Target", written by Tom, is a first hand account of a Circus Scout Pilot.



5. This is a finely crafted, excruciatingly honest, up close and personal account of combat helicoptering in Vietnam. Tom Smith and his colleagues did things with their helicopters that I never imagined possible--and I've flown in civilian and military helicopters piloted by Vietnam vets. In the course of flying low and slow looking for sandal and bicyle tracks on the muddy trails, clearings, and jungles of Vietnam and coming to the rescue of American soldiers under fire, Smith and his crew made for one easy target.
   
   I've known the author, not well, but a long time. And I also know a thing or two about writing, having taught it and earned a living by it. This book won't bore you with jargon, impress you with macho crap, or pretend that the war was something it wasn't. If you want to get a sense of the combat, the combatants, and the times, this is a very good place to start, or continue.

4 comments about AN INNOCENT AT POLEBROOK: A MEMOIR OF AN 8TH AIR FORCE BOMBARDIER.

1. A beautifully written, step by step account of Steven's experiences as part of a bomb group stationed in England during World War II. Not only does he let you feel the tensions that derive from takeoffs to bomb runs to returns to base of each mission, but the content is almost lyrical in its descriptions.

   I recommend it highly.




2. Charles "Norm" Stevens is a gifted writer. His descriptions give you the sense that you are there experiencing the life of one bombardier in 1944. The scent of shaving cream, the aromas in the plane, the suspense waiting for the plan of the day to be revealed, the views of the land below, peaceful, and chaotic, all are masterfully described by Lt. Stevens. The most routine actions are colorfully written with anticipation leading to the final mission and the return home. This memoir is a "good read" and one to be recommended.



3. Mr. Stevens writes with refreshing honesty. He claims his book is not about heroics but the bravery and courage of his own and the other men in the 8th Air Force touch the reader in a way books written to impress or excite cannot. He shows us real ordinary young men at war in a way only those who have been there could know. A must read for students of history and WWII.



4. While the descriptions of his exploits in WWII were OK, he reminds me of the character that Telly Savalas played in the "Dirty Dozen". He judges everyone by his high moral standards and sticks his nose up to anyone who doesn't measure up. Of course, he did push the toggle switch that dropped about a quarter million pounds of bombs on women and children. He said that bothered him a bit but, what the heck, it's war right? I think he should rename his book "Bombing for Jesus". Not the kind of guy you would want to hang around with.

No comments about The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, with Notes by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas: Volume 4. September 1799 - December 1801.

No comments about Andrew Foote: Civil War Admiral on Western Waters (Library of Naval Biography).