2 comments about Black Jack: John A. Logan and Southern Illinois in the Civil War Era (Shawnee Classics (Reprinted)).

1. "Black Jack" Logan was perhaps the best of the "political" generals of the Union army.
   His military service, from Forts Henry and Donelson, through Vicksburg and Atlanta and on to the Carolinas, demonstrated not only his own abilities and personal courage, but also was emblematic of the skilll and sacrifice of his "Egyptians" of southern Illinois generally. His political thought, too, illustrative of the times, reflected the shift in Illinois opinion from initial confusion and wavering, to near-solid support for Lincoln and his war policies.
   In conjunction with this very readable biography, the reader might be also be interested in "Reminiscences of a Soldier's Wife", Mrs. Logan's memoirs, which cannot be regarded as entirely reliable but which are a valuable adjunct to Jones' biography and give a colorful insight into the times.

   (The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not 'score" books.)




2. 
   John Logan was considered one of the best "political generals" in the Union Army, rising in rank from a private at First Bull Run to general only a few months later while under U.S. Grant's command. Before the war he was a US Congressman representing southern Illinois (called "Egypt"); he was a Democrat and a major critic of Lincoln. By the end of the war Logan had switched parties and had won a surprising victory to Congress as a Republican. Although not a full biography (it ends with his return to Congress in 1867), Jones has written a workmanlike account of Logan's early life and political career, and especially his role in the army during the war.
   
   Logan was born in Illinois in 1826, fought in the Mexican War, and began practicing law by 1851. A staunch Democrat (southern Illinois, his district, was rural, Democratic, and Southern in sympathy), he was elected to the Illinois legislature in 1852. He served a number of terms before being elected to Congress in 1858. An anti-abolitionist, he felt much of the troubles facing the nation in 1860 was caused by "the impertinent spirit of the anti-slavery party of the North." But he believed in the preservation of the Union above all things, and when war broke out he was among the first to heed the call to arms.
   
   He was with Grant at Belmont, MO, and Fort Donelson, distinguishing himself at both places. He took part in the Vicksburg campaign and served under McPherson during the Atlanta campaign, taking over command of the XVII Corps upon McPherson's death in July 1864. Sherman relieved him, however, only days later, a move that drew Logan's wrath. Logan continued to serve, though, participating in the famous march to the sea and once again commanding the Army of the Tennessee from May to August 1865. After the war Logan returned to Illinois and ran for Congress again, this time as a Republican - a Radical one to boot. Jones's biography ends with Logan's election, though Logan served many years in Congress and the Senate, helped form the Grand Army of the Republic and establish Decoration Day, and was on the Presidential ticket as VP with James G. Blaine in 1884. He died in 1886.
   
   Jones's biography is quite good: it is serviceable and measures the man well. There is not a lot of analysis or behind-the-scenes conjecturing, just good, solid factual information presented in an efficient manner. One wonders if Jones ever contemplated a complete biography of Logan, seeing how prominent his post-Civil War life was.

No comments about Yankee Stepfather: General O.O. Howard and the Freedmen.

3 comments about Major General John Alexander McClernand: Politician in Uniform (History Book Club Selection).

1. Rich Kiper has written a biography of a little-known personality, John Alexander McClernand, that is a lesson for soldiers who may be tempted to politick and for politicians who may be tempted to "play soldier." This book is an objective and balanced description of the period when the Union Army was suffering from the drain of military talent to the South and "politicians in uniform" were a national necessity. In spite of an abject lack of military training and experience, McClernand did perform remarkably well while preparing troops for combat and while leading them in the field. While he used his political clout to organize, train and equip the soldiers of his brigade, McClernand's tendency to be self-serving and critical of his superiors (to their superiors!) ultimately outweighed his usefulness and hastened his relief by Grant. John McClernand's nemeses included Generals Ulysses Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and, most notably, John McClernand himself. This book was written from a soldier's perspective and can be read and appreciated by soldiers and civilians alike.



2. Kiper has written a long overdue account of a general who fell through the Civil War cracks. Solid understanding, impeccable research, fluid writing = biography at its best.



3. While best known to Civil War buffs for his feuding with Grant, John Alexander McClernand remains an important second tier figure in the effort to preserve the Union.
   
   Richard Kiper helps shed some light on this obscure politican in uniform and offers new appreciation for his services. While Kiper rightfully shows McClernand as something of a blowhard who had little use with the chain of command, the biographer also argues that the Illinois general deserves better than to be lumped in with failed political generals like Nathaniel Banks and Ben Butler. While not uncritical of his subject's military leadership, Kiper presents a strong case that as recruiter, organizer and, even as a battlefield commander, McClernand proved a solid and brave soldier. Kiper also brings some light on his subject's military career after being removed by Grant, offering insight on McClernand's role in the Trans-Mississippi in 1864.
   
   This is not to say that Kiper provides a definitive biogrpahy of McClernand. McClernand's important role as one of Stephen Douglas's chief lieutenants in Illinois and in the U.S. House is lightly skimmed over. McClernand played an important role in the Compromise of 1850 and the shattering of the Democratic Party, from the Buchanan-Douglas showdown to the 1860 presidential convention in Charleston. McClernand also played a leading role in the compromise debates in the 1860-61 congressional section. He even played a fairly prominent role in the post-bellum Democratic Party. All of this Kiper glosses over. While the focus of the book is on McClernand's military career, there should have been a bit more focus on his political career as well, especially as the subject remained, despite his talents, more of a candidate than a military leader. Despite that flaw, this remains a very good look at an important, and unfairly neglected, leader in the Civil War.

No comments about Abraham Lincoln : Contemporary: An American Legacy.

1 comments about Belle Boyd In Camp And Prison.

1. I thought that this book was wonderful, it's content was direct and to the point while still telling a wonderful story of this woman's struggles of keeping secrect among the Union soldiers. I love this story and I would recomend it to anyone that has an inerest in the Civil War.

5 comments about Skorzeny's Special Missions: The Memoirs of 'the Most Dangerous Man in Europe'.

1. Being written by 'the man', this is the definitive book on Skorzeny. For those wishing to learn everything about his exploits, this book is unparalleled.

   However, I too question what has been omitted- I doubt he was as innocent as he states. I also question his view of history (particularly the importance of the Red Orchestra- the Russian spy network Otto claims provided realtime detailed info on everything the German's did). I also did not like the fact that he gives 2-3 paragraphs to apologize for Nazi/SS acts and several chapters to justify most of their actions. Lastly, this book is full of spelling mistakes, grammar errors, etc.- I guess Otto never got an Editor.

   Overall I think Otto was trying to clean-up his legacy before he died. I great soldier, yes, but still a Nazi following Hitler- how great does that make him in the end? He sounds scorned and jaded and a bit deluded- I feel kinda sad for the guy.

   chris




2. Unrepentant and loudmouthed is the way Skorzeny lead his life and the men of his SS special forces. If you want to read a revisionist, mealy-mouthed apology by a man who lived his life on the edge, this is NOT the book. On the other hand, if you want to gain perspective into the man and his times AS THEY REALLY WERE, this is the book for you. A great read, but for the full story, read "My Commando Operations." No professional military officer should be without this book.



3. While not a great writer, skorzeny provides a very interesting memoir, absent of self-promotion and well worth the read. This is a must-read for anyone interested in elite units. ...



4. I bought this book seeking practical knowledge, never thinking that I'd actually be entertained. Skorzeny is best known for starting the infamous ODESSA organization for aiding escaped war crininals. Don't buy the book looking for information about ODESSA though; it's not there. A few secrets followed him to his grave.
   
   It is important not to look upon Skorzeny as simply an escaped prisoner of war asserting his braging rights from a safe harbor. Skorzeny was an extraordinary soldier, a commander of special forces before people knew what special forces were. A captain in a Waffen SS special warfare unit, Skorzeny's career takes off when he is selected by Hitler-- quite possibly the only good strategic decision he ever made-- to lead a raid to rescue Mussolini after his overthrow in 1943. It is clear that by all accounts, the rescue never would have succeeded without Skorzeny's raw leadership skills and ability to chop through political red tape. The book gives a surprisingly honest and often hilarious account of his ability to succeed in spite of the "help" provided by his 'upper management'.
   
   Something that struck me about 'The most dangerous man in Europe' is the lack of ego as he tells his story. There is little embellishment of the facts as he tells of his exploits; if anything the weakness of the book lies in its lack of detail. The tale is, of course, unfinished and in places seems full of holes and half-truths. I am sure this is what he intended, as it leaves speculators to add to his infamous legacy. Those who could fill in the details accurately were either running for their lives or at the end of a rope.
   
   Regardless, a good soldier has a duty and a right to defend his country no matter how wrong. It must be remembered that Skorzeny was a soldier-- a man of action, not of politics. It is for that that he deserves a measure of respect.



5. This book is an amusing work of fiction, or, as the commander of the Mussolini rescue mission (Operation Eicke), Luftwaffe Major Harald Mors said after the war, "a fairy tale." Skorzeny had nothing to do with the planning or execution of the Mussolini mission. He begged permission from the General officer in charge, Luftwaffe General Kurt Student, to go along in one of the gliders for the ride, then forced his way into the 2-seat little plane carrying Mussolini to safety and claimed all the credit for the mission when it landed. Skorzeny was not the "most dangerous man in Europe," but he was certainly its biggest liar. Mors, Student, Berlepsch, and a dozen other participants tried for years after the war to set the record straight, but the Skorzeny myth is written in stone. Buy this book if you want to read the arrogant, self-serving and fictional exploits of an uncouth, loud-mouthed liar.

5 comments about Marching Through Georgia.

1. On his 1994 attempt to re-trace William Tecumseh Sherman's trek from Atlanta to Savannah, Jerry Ellis searches for vestiges of that traumatic time reflected in the people he meets along the way.

   This book is an unsuccessful hybrid of social history and an "on-the-road" travelogue. Ellis uncovers no previously undiscovered traces of the effect of Sherman's journey in the New South and after a while it appears he loses sight of his goal. This book has one saving grace: Ellis's natural story-telling ability which captures the spirits of the people he encounters. However, this bright spot isn't enough to compensate for Ellis's failure to achieve his original objective; it just turns this into a passable diary of someone's hike.




2. This is probably one of the worst books I have read in a long time. Mr. Ellis travelogue fails to on so many levels it is difficult to list them all here. He provides little historical context, his opinions are pompous, his anecdotes are trite, his personal life stories are self-absorbed, and his grand attempt to define what it means to be 'Southern' fails. I can only attribute it to my Yankee's perseverance that I did manage to make it through this tripe. I believe that if General Sherman wanted to inflict true pain on the South, rather than burning his way to the sea, he should have forced the rebels read this book.



3. In 1864, General Sherman, Union general, began his infamous (or famous) trek through Georgia, vowing to make Georgia howl. Howl it did. And still does. More than a hundred years later, Jerry Ellis walked the same path. It was a trek in search of his own Southerness, and an homage to his father who had died not long before. Along the way, he met people who still remember Sherman and the devastation he and his army left in their wake as though it were yesterday. He found Southern hospitality. He found a South that finds it hard to forget.

   This is a personal story, not meant to simply tell the history of the places and people he finds along the way. Their histories are interwoven with his own, their presents forming a framework for Ellis' coming to terms with the possibility of losing the woman he loves because of the journey, and with the death of his father. It adds to what he knows about himself and who he is, a Southerner with ties to the War Between the States, and part Cherokee with ties to a past unrelated in many ways to that war.

   This is an interesting view of history and how it affects people's lives, even generations later. At times, Ellis becomes too bogged down in his own problems and we wonder if he misses telling about other things we might have found interesting. But all in all, this is a book for Southerners who know and understand their ties to the South, or who are still trying to find those ties and weave them back into their lives.

   Readers who like this book might also want to read other of Ellis' journeys. Also "Womenfolks: Growing up Down South" by Shirley Abbott might be interest. They might also like to read an account of Sherman's march to the sea, such as those included in the nuemrous Sherman biographies, or sets of histories of the war, including the Time Life Civil War volume "Sherman's March."




4. I have read the book version of this title and it is certainly more in-depth than this audio book. But the audio is powerfully and beautifully read by the author himself. His dramatic voice makes the book spring alive. Wonderful listening...



5. I find it difficult to read other authors after reading Ellis, and I've read all, loved lots. His style is unique. Educated and articulate enough to hold his own with the greats but so raw and open that you really feel like you were there with him and all those he met. Very few have aroused the desire to re-read, but I can't put this guy down, I've laughed and cried 7 times through this book. Ellis is different than all the others. He does not disappoint. As a transplanted Southerner, I get it now! Read this book (and his others) ASAP!!!

5 comments about All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery.

1. This is the last and probably the best book completed by the late Henry Mayer.

   Mayer admired Garrison, the most important leader of the abolitionist movement. In this book, he succeeds in renovating the reputation of a great reformer and activist who has often been neglected or written off as a crank.

   Garrison and the abolitionists were originally hardly more popular in the North than in the South. They were seen as disrupting the Union and were regarded with suspicion for their pro-black beliefs - public opinion in the North was only marginally less racist than in Dixie. Garrison's courage and consistent refusal to trim his convictions for popular acceptance led to a career with an outsized share of controversy, oppobrium, and in several cases physical danger.

   Some reviewers have felt the book is too long, and it is hefty. But the length is necessary for Mayer to give a full portrait, which shows not only the man, but also the era he lived in. In particular, Mayer writes extensively about abolitionism as a movement. Abolitionists, and Garrison himself, struggled with many problems - whether to compromise by supporting politicians whose platforms called for less than full abolition, evolving from a paternalist movement of mostly privileged whites to a movement in which free blacks and escaped slaves could play a meaningful role, and reconciling the pacifist leanings of many to their role in a war against slaveholders - that will be of interest to contemporary political activists. Mayer also shows how, after abolition was accomplished, former abolitionists seeking new causes worked for other advances, including the first stirrings of the women's suffrage movement.




2. Let's just get the obvious criticisms out of they way. First, the author pretty much flat out states that The Civil War was fought only because of slavery--and in the preface! Yawn. Will I ever be able to find a Northerner who can write a book that examines both sides of the conflict? I mean southern writers do it all the time. The second problem is the assertion that the Texas Revolution was some kind of government conspiracy--from Pres. Jackson on down to Sam Houston--to perpetuate slavery and continue manifest destiny. While I'm sure some men fought for those reasons, this moronic conspiracy theory about secret government shenanigans has no basis whatsoever. In fact, I would recommend the wonderful biography, Sam Houston, by James Haley. It expertly destroys that awful line of thinking that has somehow survived all these years.
   
   But, being from Texas, I tend to be sensitive to such things. For most people it won't matter.
   
   I still highley recommend All On Fire, though. It is very well written and researched. But most of all, it is the only real biography on Garrison worth reading. And say what you want about the author's biases, he can't muddle the fact that Garrison was one of this country's great patriots, willing to stand up to anyone to free his fellow man. He dedicated his entire life to this noble cause--and except for a few references in some Civil War books--is largely forgotten. What a shame.



3. William Lloyd Garrison was a man ahead of his time. Not by years or even decades, but centuries. In the 1830s he was an outspoken proponent of not just the abolition of slavery (many advocated various ways to deal with the South's "peculiar institution"), but called for the immediate abolition of slavery with complete and full civil rights for African-Americans. He dreamed of a time when a black woman might succeed a black man as Secretary of State a decade before the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were something less than human in the infamous Dredd Scott decision. He was also an early advocate of women's rights, labor reform, temperance and civil disobedience, as well as an outspoken critic of organized religion (Garrison was what we might today call a fundamentalist "born again Christian" who recognized no formal church other than Christ's teachings).
   
   Given Garrison's role as founding father of the abolitionist movement, his passion for the cause, longevity in leadership and terminal impact on the greatest political issue of the nineteenth century it is puzzling that he has left such an obscure historical legacy. As author Herbert Mayer notes, Martin Luther King Jr. cited Gandhi, Thoreau and the Gospel as his inspiration and motivation in the Civil Rights movement with no reference to the man whose peaceful agitation did more to eradicate bondage than any other -- and who in turn may very well have been Thoreau's inspiration in writing "Civil Disobedience."
   
   So why the obscurity? Mayer's biography does little to address this paradox. In fact, his book makes Garrison's general absence from the mainstream of American history all the more tenebrous. The man that emerges from the pages of "All on Fire" is a moral giant, a crusader in the purest and best sense of the word, who risked -- indeed, welcomed -- verbal and physical abuse, a life of indigence and scorn, all in pursuit of a truly noble cause. Garrison grew up in New England and never traveled further south than Baltimore until after the Civil War, yet he dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery with an intensity and zeal that surpassed dissident southern whites (such as the Grimke sisters) and even some blacks that had escaped from bondage themselves. Because of his central role in establishing and leading the cause, "All on Fire" is, as the full title suggests, as much a history of the entire abolitionist movement as it is a biography of its leading agitator.
   
   However, a close reading of "All on Fire" also reveals a hidden side of William Lloyd Garrison that Mayer, unfortunately, never fully explores: a man of extreme ambition, vanity, and conceit. Garrison fought tenaciously to keep himself at the front-and-center of the moral movement he came to regard as his own. One senses that the fame and notoriety he gained by his agitation came to mean quite a lot to him. In this sense, Garrison reminds one of a contemporary political gadfly increasingly enamored of his high-profile image: Michael Moore. Perhaps Garrison's attraction to celebrity never fully outweighed his commitment to the ultimate prize of freeing three million humans from bondage, but it certainly meant more than the pious Christian in him would have liked to admit -- and certainly more than biographer Mayer is willing to concede. Again and again throughout the narrative Garrison experiences a painful and personal falling out with some of his closest friends and coadjutors: Frederick Douglas, Wendell Phillips, the Tappan brothers, etc. And time after time Mayer attributes the rift to simple misunderstandings or the result of the stress and pressure of the times. That Garrison might have been something less than the Galahad on ante-bellum America is left unexplored.
   
   Nevertheless, for anyone with a desire to know more about America and especially to learn about a man that was once one of the most controversial and well-known figures of his century, only to sink to near anonymity, this National Book Award finalist can be highly recommended.



4. Now a book that shows two sides of slavery that all white people were not all for slavery .Like Dr.martin luther king was saying that slavery was not about black against white ,but justice againt injustice.Because if all men and women are not free then we are all in chains.Books like this one has giving us a balance look at one of america darkest sides. But men like Garrison showed us that their were men and women that were a light of hope that all men are created equal . And being a black man I must say thank you to all the blackmen and women and white men and women of the past for fighting a fight that many of us still fight for today .And that is for an opportunity to live as we were when God created us in the beginnig as, a human being thank you.



5. Bad
   
   A. The narrative pace is just awful. I don't know what it is about this book I almost didn't make it past the first 40 pages because the begining moves so slowly.
   B. The idiotic "conspiracy theory" idea regarding the Texas Revolution. Someday right minded people everywhere will be able to laugh conspiracy nuts right off the street.
   Good
   
   The book has a great deal of information regarding the beginnings of an organized abolitionist movement in this country. Garrison was the focal point for this when the movement started to move beyond isolated groups of idealists and Quakers and started to be taken seriously as a genuine force for social change.
   
   Overall-Once you get into the book it is amazing, but you have to be in the right mood to do so.

No comments about Incidents In The Life of a B-25 Pilot.

4 comments about PAPPY GUNN.

1. If there is a single outstanding American hero of World War II (and perhaps in all of American history) it is Colonel Paul Irvin "Pappy" Gunn.A former US enlisted naval aviator, Gunn had retired from the Navy and was living in the Philippines with his wife and four children when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and invaded the Philippines. As the owner of a small air taxi operation, Gunn and his airplanes were impressed into the United States Army Air Corps immediately after the outbreak of war. On Christmas Eve, 1941 Gunn was ordered to fly a load of Far East Air Force staff officers to Australia and to stay there awaiting further orders. His family - including the author - remained in Manila and were interned by the Japanese for the duration, leading Gunn to fight his own private war. And fight he did! Historian and author Walter Edmond stated that no other single invidual did as much to defeat the Japanese as did Gunn, who is best known for his conversion of the Douglas A-20 and North American B-25 into powerful gunships that did a number on a Japanese convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. But he did a lot more, especially in those dark days of early 1942. It's not widely known, but Gunn flew several missions from Australia to Bataan by way of Mindanao in his role as the commander of the newly organized Air Transport Command. During the Java Campaign he took a war-weary B-17 that had been turned over to his transport squadron and used it to attack Japanese ships in the Java Sea. In March 1942 he literally stole two dozen B-25s from the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, then flew one of ten on the Royce Raid into the Philippines a few weeks later.
   
   Pappy Gunn is the the famous aviators story in the words of his son Nat, who grew up in the Japanese internment camp at Santo Thomas Prison, then lived with his dad in the Philippines after the war and until his untimely death in 1957. Nat has done an outstanding job of telling not only his father's story, but also that of his mother, brother and two sisters as they waited helplessly in the Philippines for their father and husband to return for them. Instead of their father, it was no less a figure than General Douglas McAthur who came to the gates of Santo Thomas University to put them on a C-47 for the flight to Australia, where Pappy Gunn had been evacuated a few months before after recieving a serious wound from a Japanese white phosphorus bomb. This book should be read by every American! It's the story of a real hero, not a media or politically generated one.
   
   Sam McGowan, Author - The Cave, A Novel of the Vietnam War



2. This is a singularly unique book that tells a true life, historical account of one of the greatest heros of "The Great War." With stunning photographs, and with every fact offered supported by actual photocopies of historical documents proving each assertion, and written with skill and heart as only his son Nathaniel Gunn could, this is a "must read" for anyone interested in the "Greatest Generation," in WWII lore, etc. In our current existential angst about what constitutes a righteous and reasonable occasion for war, this is a book that will make the most liberal anti-war wonk thank his/her lucky stars that in a time long past there were those who had the courage to stand up and fight for all that we have come to hold so dear. You won't be able to put this book down, I promise you! So put on a pot of coffee, curl up in your most comfortable easy chair, and be prepared to bear witness to one of the most incredible true stories of courage, love, and patriotism that you will ever read.



3. This book is a great read, and would have made great fiction, but it is based on real life. Pappy Gunn's life was incredible and how he dealt with adversity should be a model for current Americans. America is what it is because it creates people like Pappy Gunn, who rise to crises and overcome overwhelming odds to persevere, through hard work, innovation, skill and risk-taking. I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. What was accomplished with severely limited resources, and the American can do attitude in the Southwest Pacific by Pappy Gunn and his contemporaries was incredible, and was skillfully expressed in this book. I highly recommend it.



4. After having read numerous books on the 5th Air Force operations in the Southwest Pacific (SWP) theatre during WWII, that made constant reference to Pappy Gunn and his contribution to the success of the operations, it was great to finally obtain an in depth look at the man. The book provides a wealth of information on the ability of Pappy Gunn to get what was needed to accomplish his goals of not only modifying B-25s and A-20s into strafers and capable of longer range, but to show that his dedication to his captive family was his motivation. This is not just a war story, but an in depth story of a very significant character in the overall picture of the war in the SWP.
   
   The shortfall in this book is the poor reproduction of the photos and the letters. The letters were especially hard to read and as a result, significant information that could have added depth to the story was lost.