1 comments about Lincoln and the First Shot (Critical Periods of History).

1. A great breakdown of events leading up to Ft. Sumter, and a great analysis of the early relationship between Lincoln and his cabinet, esp. Secretary of state Seward (who at this early date mistakenly thought Lincoln was a puppet he could manipulate). All in all a fascinating read and a must for good civil war libraries.

No comments about Lest We Forget: The Grave Sites of the Union Civil War Generals Buried in the United States.

1 comments about History of the 15th South Carolina Infantry A: 1861-1865.

1. Jim Clary's regimental history of the 15th South Carolina Infantry is by far one of the most outstanding modern unit histories in print.
   
   Jim spared no effort and expense in researching and producing a simply tremendous all-around product. As the Amazon product description states, the book is not short on covearge (600pp). But, whereas many older regimentals and some of the newer, more cursory works, focus highly on just a unit roster, Jim provides one of the finest unit combat narratives in a book of this type as well as an exhaustive roster.
   
   He misses absolutely nothing in the unit's history and writes that history with a flowing, yet detailed prose, using dozens of obscure and never-before-mined sources. Soldiers' letters, diaries, memoirs, service and unit records, newspaper articles, a plethora of rare photographs, and dozens of detailed battle maps grace these pages. It is, without doubt, one of the most prolific accumulations of unit data ever to come under one cover.
   
   But, don't let the size of the book or its great detail deter you in perusing this gem. The book is so well put together in format and narrative that it was not only an easy but highly enjoyable read. Not an easy accomplishment for a unit history.
   
   The 15th South Carolina belonged to Kershaw's famous 1st Corps brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia and, so, particpated in most of Robert E. Lee's operations. In addition, Kershaw's Brigade saw action in the Chickamauga and Eastern Tennessee Campaigns and in the war's last campaign in North Carolina. It is no boast, then, to say that the fighting Fifteenth saw almost all of the war east of the Appalachians. Very few unit histories can cover such a wide range of the war's experience.
   
   The edition I reviewed was the softcover, but I hear Jim is hoping to prepar a hardcover release as well. In whatever form you read this work, just READ it for sure; it is one Civil War book you cannot afford to pass by.
   
   Theodore C. Mahr
   
   ( author of "The Battle of Cedar Creek: Showdown in the Shenandoah: October 1-30, 1864;" former U.S. National Park Service Seasonal historian at Manassas and Fredericksburg NMP's and past book review contributor to "Blue & Gray Magazine" )

No comments about The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt's Flight from the Gallows.

5 comments about America at Night: The True Story of Two Rogue CIA Operatives, Homeland Security Failures,Dirty Money, and a Plot to Steal the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election- by theFor.

1. America at Night is one of the most riveting books I've read in a long while. I absolutely couldn't put it down. Not only is the story completely intriguing, but Kolb--unlike many true crime authors--can really write. The man is obviously a born storyteller. And in this case, the story he's telling happens to be true--which makes the book all the more fascinating. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in how politics really works in this country, or anyone that just enjoys a compulsive, compelling read.



2. This started off as interesting, but I lost interest when he started writing page after page about Muhammud Ali as the greatest man who ever lived. Toward the end, the book became a reason to bash the right, although the author claims he isn't. Kold is a left wing partisan, and it shows. Too bad, as the books holds real promise.



3. An entertaining book, as long as you don't believe the far-fetched conspiracy theories. The author takes a fact here, a factoid there, on and on and tries to put them together for a grand conspiracy. As far as I could tell, it's really just the story of some con men, talented and interesting though they were.



4. I'm sure most of what Mr. Kolb says is true about Hirschfeld and Sensi but I suspect he uses this capital to serve his ultimate goal -- to trash everything Republican. As a hit piece of this magnitude he is unconvincing. Ironically, if the picture Kolb has painted of these two con men is accurate and their abilitiy to use powerful figures is proven, then why is he not looking to find innocence in the many Republican politicians that seem to have been used? Why does he automatically see conspiracy on a wider scale within the GOP?
   
   He seems to trust "The Gray Eminence" and other people he has actually talked to like Engin Yesil. John Kerry is a war hero (Bush a poseur). He uses the term neo-con as a perjorative. Wolfowitz, Rice et al are war mongers out of touch with what....the omniscient benevolence of the Kerry team? A balanced outing of the "facts" would have at least included some rebuttal. There is none. He says at the beginning he is non-partisan. Nice try.
   
   He believes he is saving the world from evil. Has Kolb read Bill Sammon's book "At Any Cost - How Al Gore Tried To Steal The Election"? How that egalitarian and progressive organization, the Chicago Daley Machine was called in as a fixer for the Florida recount? There is no paucity of evil in America. Why be seletive?
   
   The fact is that both parties have operatives. Both parties are involved in scullduggery. And because of the hightened political climate both parties have a stake in deeming the other an enemy. I think the day of a mere advisarial relationship between left and right is over.
   
   We all pick sides. Kolb is on the Democratic team.



5. This book has some very interesting insight into a real story that depicts how some things work in this world... how someone can get all the way to the "kitchen" with the Bush's and be an outlaw. Very well written novel also! Only con would be some far fetched conspiracy theeories laid out at the beginning of the book and never proved during the book.

2 comments about Snake's Daughter: The Roads in and Out of War (Singular Lives).

1. This is a terrific book, one that works into the memory from a series of photos and a set of fixed memories of a difficult man and a difficult childhood. it's so much more than a tale of dysfunction though. Its the elegant tale of a survivor, of a little girl and a nation.

   This book is not getting the attention it deserves!




2. Without self-pity nor malice Gilberg writes of a challenging childhood with two dysfunctional parents. This is far more than a retelling of this family's painful history; it's a book that encourages any reader to look into the deeper reality of the events in their family's life enabling reconciliation and healing to result. Gilberg's honest sharing, laced with love and respect for her father, left this reader glad to have "met" this
   man. I like him. And it's a book that will bring some understanding and peace regarding our involvement in Vietnam which I also found helpful.

1 comments about Art from the Trenches: America's Uniformed Artists in World War I (Texas a & M University Military History Series).

1. More than half the book is biographical materials on the individual artists and text regarding their involvement with the army. Actual reproductions of art work are fewer than I would have liked but are of good quality.

No comments about I Am Alive!: A United States Marine's Story of Survival in World War II Japanese POW Camp.

5 comments about Letters Home: From 9/11 to Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Military Mom Shares Her Family's Story of Patriotism, Courage and Love.

1. Mary Ward captured my interest with the first sentence and kept it through the entire book. I truly felt her every emotion. It gave me so much appreciation for each and every soldier that is serving our country.



2. In the Fall of 2004, when I realized my son would be deploying to Iraq for the 2nd time, I began searching the internet once again for ANYTHING relating to the 3rd ID. My search led me to Mary Ward of Marehaven Productions. A review of her book, "Letters Home" by Ron Martz of the Atlanta Journal Constitution caught my eye because he had been embedded with my son's Company on the Thunder Run to Baghdad. I ordered "Letters Home" that day. From the moment I opened the book, I couldn't put it down. It transported me back in time. Her words were my words. Her son became my son. I cried and I felt the joy of a son returning home from war, and the guilt because I knew others had not. In the week before my son left, I felt compelled to read her book again. In 3 short months, I have read it twice. For any parent who has sent their child off to war and is familiar with the emotional roller coaster ride, this is a must read. And for those who have never sent a child off to war, this book offers insight as to how very difficult it is.



3. I was fortunate enough to hear about the book Letters Home by Mary Ward from a friend who had just finished reading it twice. I knew that it was a book that I needed to read. Everything that I was told about the book was true.
   This book took me back to my own memories of the first time my son was deployed to Iraq. Facing my son's second deployment, I once again picked up Letters Home and read it again and again.
   I hope that everyone in America has the opportunity to read this book to understand what it is like to have a loved one in the military.
   Once you buy this book you will not be able to put it down!
   I anxiously wait for more books by this very talented author.



4. I recommend this book to moms, dads, families, and friends of military personnel being or currently deployed to Iraq. Reading 'Letters Home' will help you gain insight and understanding into the daily lives of those deployed. It will also validate the emotions experienced by those of us who wait, wonder, and worry through the deployment time. Read how this family supports their soldier and how their friends and family support one another.



5. MARY WARDS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR MILITARY FAMILIES. I'VE BEEN FORTUNATE IN KNOWING MARY WARD AND HER SON AND HUSBAND. THIS BOOK IS SOMETHING ALL MILITARY FAMILIES NEED TO READ IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT OUR SOLDIERS GO THROUGH AND WHAT THEY NEED FOR SUPPORT. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG IF YOU LISTEN TO THIS SOLDIER IN THIS BOOK.

5 comments about E-Mail to the Front: One Wife's Correspondence with Her Husband Overseas.

1. This book may be difficult to find - take the time! A fantastic read. Alesia Holliday has crafted a wonderful representation of the world many of us live in nowadays. She presents her story in an interesting format of email between herself and her husband (with narration at the beginning of each chapter to introduce the topic of that chapter). Illnesses, job changes, children, deployments, and much more. It really runs quite a course, and is highly recommended for anyone with a relative in the military, new (or experienced!) military spouse, or just someone who would like some insight into the everyday life of today's military family. Warning however! Be careful drinking hot liquids while reading this book! I have a sweatshirt that took many washings to get the stain out after laughing so hard that I completely lost control of my coffee mug. Alesia has managed to turn some very stressful moments on their ear by relating it through humor. What an extraordinary woman, and a must-have book. Keep them coming!



2. I am an AF Veteran but also military spouse for 21 years now. I have been trying to get this book for sometime and was finally able to get my hands on a copy. Of course, it arrived when I was 3 months into yet another deployment to Iraq and I debated on whether it was a good time to read it or not.
   
   I chose to read it because the God's honest truth was I didn't think there was ever going to be a "good time" to read this.
   
   The book does not disappoint. There were many stories I could sit back in my chair and smile and think "Thank God I am not the only one that did that". Some stories made me laugh and many others made me cry.
   
   My daughter who is 18 saw the book sitting on the table and picked it up and asked if she could read it when I was done. She's grown up in this world and without having read a word of the book, commented that Military Wives were the strongest women she knew. That meant alot to me, knowing all the struggles her and I have had, which only seem to get worse when dad is off in some foreign land.
   
   Us veteran wives know that what can go wrong will go wrong when there is a deployment. We try to prepare for every crisis, and we always think we're ready, but to be honest you can never be truly ready.
   
   Thank you Ms Holliday for sharing your personal triumphs and crisis with us. And thank you for writing this book. This wife salutes you.



3. This book was wonderful. Very well written and hilarious! Even though deployments can be a hard time, I enjoyed that she composed this book with a light-hearted and humorous approach. I have loaned it to several of my friends and they too have delighted in her story. Excellent read, I would reccomend it to anybody, military or civilian.



4. I read this book as part of research into the type of challenges I might face before I married someone in the military. Unlike so many books that seem to claim that if you bake cookies everything will feel all better, Ms. Holliday bares her soul and shows us what a real military spouse goes through on a day to day basis.
   Her emails and commentary are poignant and honest. My only criticism is that I feel she does fall a bit in the trap many military spouses fall into, that of trying to gloss things over and make them sound better than they actually are.
   Nevertheless, I think this is a wonderful book, especially for those preparing for their spouse's first deployments.



5. As I read this book I found myself nodding a lot and thinking "The same thing happened to us," or "We've had that exact conversation at my house." Alesia tells it to us straight--the positive, the negative, and everything in between. Plus she has a wicked sense of humor, which shows us what it takes to thrive in today's military. Bravo for Email to the Front!
   
   Marna Krajeski
   author, Household Baggage: The Moving Life of a Soldier's Wife