No comments about Personal Traits Of Abraham Lincoln (1912).

No comments about El Cid: The Making of a Legend.

3 comments about Alexander the Great (The Norton Library).

1. I have read a number of books on Alexander the Great and finally decided to read Wilcken's biography on Alexander since it is cited in so many other works. While the book covers all the high points and is generally favorable in its treatment and view of Alexander, it fails to give any real detail about the man, his life or his military exploits. If you know little of Alexander you will find the highpoints here. If you are looking for something new, the only information that I had not seen before was the author's speculation about Alexander's future plans; and the author's discussion of the legacy of Alexander. There is an interesting discussion in the introduction about earlier Alexander biographies.



2. A very good start for the college student who is interested in learning more than myths about Alexander and the world he was born into. Not a psychological portrait but straight history, in the old style [it was first published in 1931]. It should be balanced with other works if one wants a full portrait of Alexander. It can be dense at times but it's rewarding.



3. This is a smoothly done work. The author, a product of the older German school of history, has been expertly translated here. This book reads easily, and the reader quickly gets swept up into the interesting and insightful text. This a fairly straight-forward bio of Alexander. Those wanting to know his sexual escapades should consult more modern works. Here such is only hinted at.
   
   The main stength of this book seems to be its comparative analysis. The author shows how Alexander evolved in his strategy of conquest. He is also skillful at showing how he managed his various titles as ruler, being Hegemon to the Greeks, and Divine King to the Asiatics. There is limited discussion of the great battles of Alexander, although reference is made to the Oblique Order which he developed from Epamiadas of Thebes. The early chapter concerning Philip also sheds light on his accomplishments and how they would influence his son.
   
   The concluding chapters discuss the legacy of Alexander. Useful reference is made to how Caeser planned to model his three year campaign of conquest on Alexander in the East before he was assassinated. Tthe legacy of Alexander with the Romans is also interesting. There is also a good deal of how the Diodachi Succession wars developed, and how these various rulers spread Hellanism throughtout their empires. Alexander can be seen on many different levels. He is many things to different people. Here we find a pretty unbiased account, which is on the whole favorable toward his accomplishments and deeds. Readers more familar with recent bios may wish to consult this work to get a clear, concise and uncluttered account.

2 comments about Sojourns of a Patriot: The Field and Prison Papers of An Unreconstructed Confederate (Journal of Confederate History Series, Vol 19).

1. Sojourns of a Patriot is a compelling read. It esentially follows the life a Confederate infantryman, Corporal A.P. Adamson, throughout his tenure of the War Between the States. The book is composed primarily of his letters home and a journal he kept for the last year of the war. Secondarily, the editors provide comment and explanation to some of the entries. Most revealing were the roles that camp gossip played in his thoughts on the morale of the Southern troops. Also quite interesting were the false or incomplete pieces of "news" that reached Southern camps. This aspect of the book provides the reader with an insight that is often not present in regimental or campaign histories. Often, readers know the outcome of the battle, the makeup of the casualty list, or the result of a particular election. The letters in this book permit the reader an escape from that biased knowledge and to live through the life of the writer. The love of the writer for his home, his yearning for a return to his previous life, and his concern for the future are poignantly brought to the fore through his letters to various family members. However, some of the best writing is not included in these letters, but is in his later journal. These entries are poetry disguised as prose. The images brought forth by his writings are disturbing, comforting, melancholic, and often heart-wrenching. Brief though they are, they are some of the most powerful writings of the War this reader has encountered. The only detractor to the book is in the commentaries by the editors. They focussed a little more than was perhaps necessary on the personal histories of peripheral protagonists. Some of the information was repititious. However, in their defence, the editors do warn the reader of this in the beginning and they do have personal bias to this information. Additionally, the other commentaries they provide would be useful to readers who may not be as familiar with the conflict (in fact, these could have been expanded somewhat, but there is a conscious effort by the editors to provide suggested readings which are appropriate for each entry). Overall, I highly recommend this book to any person interested in the War Between the States. It will be especially appealling to readers with interest in the personal experiences of the war and an informative diversion to those readers who generally limit themselves to straight histories.



2. The editors have tried to add value to this rather unexciting collection of letters and brief diary by interspersing their own comments among the letters. This is all very well when they stick to facts, but too often they inflict their own 20th-century political beliefs upon the readers. That's particularly annoying considering the lip service paid to "objectivity" in the foreword.

   The letters themselves are not exactly thrilling. The soldier in question saw little action and his letters (typically of Civil War letters) concern themselves mostly with relatives he's met and what he wants to have sent from home. His prison diary is interesting mostly in that its tone differs markedly from that of the letters; it's emotional and romantic, whereas the letters are downright dull. Still, the diary offers little factual information -- though he does undermine his editors' hoopla by stating that he was actually treated reasonably well. Whether he was "unreconstructed", as the editors claim, is unknown, because no post-war writings of his own are included.

   I'd skip this. The editing is annoying and the primary material adds nothing new or entertaining to the wealth of Civil War primary sources already in print.

No comments about Van Dorn: The Life and Times of a Confederate General.

1 comments about Let Freedom Ring.

1. Well balanced writing from a new author with an interesting twist on the values of twenty-first century American culture. A wonderful account of combat action in Iraq that tells the real story of life as a front line soldier.

No comments about On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier II: New and Revised Biographies of African Americans in the U.S. Army, 1866-1917.

2 comments about Sea Wolf: The Daring Exploits of Navy Legend John D. Bulkeley.

1. A biography of remarkable man. From exploits in WWII to making sure our navy personel have the best equipment availible. No shortcuts under his watch. His life reads very nuch like a novel. Many adventures are more exciting than most movies. A thoroughly entertaining and educational account of a remarkable man. Bob



2. This was a very riveting book. I couldn't put it down. It is a very exciting tale of a true Navy Legend and a national hero. Though there are some chronological gaps, they are minor and the author tells his story well.

No comments about American Caesar: Library Edition.

3 comments about Kate Chase and William Sprague: Politics and Gender in a Civil War Marriage.

1. This is at least the 5th biography of the Civil War Northern Belle, Kate Chase (daughter of Lincoln's Treasury Secretary), and it takes good advantage of material not available to prior researchers. It continues the revisionist trend from the last bio ("Kate Chase for the Defense", by Sokoloff) of trying to humanize this ambitious woman and portrary her in a more sympathetic light than the first several books. The author makes as good a case as one can for her point of view, and candidly admits to favoritism (she announces in the prologue that she will ever be a Kate supporter, and discloses an unmitigated hatred of Kate's husband William Sprague). But the gender politics angle grows tiresome after a while and detracts from the story. One wishes the book were told in a more dramatic manner; there is certainly more than enough raw material for that.

   The best new stuff here concerns the hitherto unknown extent to which the Roscoe Conkling-Kate Chase relationship continued well after the famous "shotgun" incident in which the cuckolded Sprague threatened to blow Conkling's head off, setting off a national scandal. I was particularly intrigued by materials indicating that Kate continued to press the case for Conkling to President Chester Alan Arthur, urging Arthur to give her lover a high-level position in his administration at a time when it should have been obvious that this was not in the cards. Indeed, much of the new research material merely bolsters the picture of Kate Chase as a ceaselessly calculating individual, almost oblivious to what others thought of her. The author is not averse to calling her subject on a number of things, particularly her public prevarication following the shotgun incident, but the sense is that Kate is let off a bit too lightly on this and other matters. And the effort to explain much of Kate's behavior as stemming from a serious, substantive concern for liberal Republican values is not terribly convincing; there is little hard evidence that Kate's political activity was based on anything other than a desire to see her and her loved ones (her father, Conkling, even Sprague) attain positions of personal and political power. That is how virtually all of her contemporaries who knew her saw her (even friends such as John Hay), and the modern biographer bears a heavy burden in trying to impeach that conventional view. (the one vignette I wish the author had included is Hay's diary account of how Kate virtually pleaded with him to dine with her and Conkling a few years after the scandal; Hay made up an excuse for declining).

   While early biographers went too far in painting Kate Chase as a cold, ambitious, cutthroat personality, this book tilts a bit too far in the other direction. We could now use a full-bodied, objective bio of this fascinating woman which makes use of the wealth of new material that seems to keep turning up and does not lose sight of the powerful drama that attended her life and times.




2. I've read every biography on Kate Chase Sprague that's around today, and this one, by far, is the best. Peg Lamphier combines the historical background with the characters of Kate and William, and masterfully brings both of them to life in a way I have yet to see in other books. I was so impressed that I've read this book more than once, and each time I find something that makes me remember, Kate was a real person, and a "glorious girl", and what happened to her could happen to anyone.
   
   Kate's life is one that makes me want to go back in time and shake her, but then, we all have to live our lives and do the best that we can with our choices and paths we take.
   
   This biography is well-written, well-researched, and extremely interesting. The author comes across as being much more sympathetic towards Kate than some I've read do, but that's okay. It fits in this book. This is definitely not a novel and not easy reading at times, but I highly recommend it for any serious student of Kate Chase, her marriage to William Sprague, and for those curious about gender and gender differences during the Victorian Era.
   
   Cindy Obermier



3. An excellent book! The author really knows her subject and makes this history book as readable as a romance novel. An amazing amount of history that a lot of us might have skipped over in another book. Once I started this book I couldn't put it down.