No comments about Planting The Union Flag In Texas: The Campaigns of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks in the West (Red River Valley Books).

5 comments about Custer Victorious: The Civil War Battles of General George Armstrong Custer.

1. Being from Michigan, I knew George Custer was a Civil War hero. After reading this book I realized just how important that man was to the Union cause. Although young, Custer was mature beyond his years, his prowess as a calvaryman is second to none. He was loved by his troops and respected by his enemies, some who he bested many times during the Civil War. He was a true leader in every sense of the word. Fearless and steady, always leading his troops into a charge. Ever concerned for the well being of his men. This book is a wonderful piece on a great man who was lost in history by speculation and heresay. Had he his Michigan Calvary Brigade, his beloved "Wolverines" or men like them at Little Big Horn and not 17 and 18 yr old troops as recently discovered, even though being outgunned I am sure there would have been different results for historians to ponder. Rest in Peace Major General Custer, your name is forever cleared.



2. This book tells the fascinating story of George Armstrong Custer's Civil War career. The self-confidence of this man, followed by his real accomplishment, is amazing. Prior to reading this book, I was aware of only Custer's battle with Jeb Stuart at Gettysburg. Now I find that Custer met Stuart on numerous occasions and, in fact, it was his brigade that was responsible for Stuart's death at Yellow Tavern. For the life of me, I can't figure out why this epic rivalry between these two great cavalry leaders is not better known.
   
   The bad news is that the writing is merely adequate. The prose is a tad purple and the last chapter, in which the author summarizes his theory that Custer was truly a great military leader, is superfluous in that the author has done a much more convincing job in merely telling the tale. Finally, I might quibble about the title. I almost didn't buy this book because I thought it was an alternative history of Little Big Horn.
   
   We live in an age with a scarcity of heroes. This book presents us a hero in the classic mold. We could do worse than to emulate this man. It is perhaps telling of our times, however, that rather than to acknowledge Custer's heroism, we defame his memory.



3. This is a good read and will open up a new opinion of Custer for most people. It was only in the 20th century that the name of George Armstrong Custer became associated with the ultimate bad decision and failure. In the last half of the 19th century, he was still remembered for his daring and SUCCESSFUL civil war exploits. It is nice to see his Civil War record documented in one spot so that future generations can see that there was more to this warrior than the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He employed the same tactics but with much more confidence and obviously greater success.



4. George Armstrong Custer is known to most people today as the general who led his soldiers to slaughter at the hands of the Indians at the Little Bighorn in Montana. But it was the glory and fame earned as a dashing and courageous Civil War cavalry officer that made that defeat so shocking and controversial. Gregory J.W. Urwin focuses on those Civil War years in this study.
   
   Custer graduated last in his class from West Point in 1861 (he may have been expelled if the army wasn't in desperate need of officers at the time). Assigned to a cavalry regiment, he first saw action at First Bull Run. There and later with McClellan on the Peninsular and then with General Alfred Pleasanton, Custer gained a reputation for bravery and bravado. He especially distinguished himself at Gettysburg and in the Shenandoah Valley with Sheridan in 1864. But perhaps his greatest achievement was the constant pressure he and his troops put on Lee as he retreated toward Appomattox Court House; Lee said it was a major factor in his decision to surrender.
   
   Custer was dashing and fearless in battle - and was not shy about having the spotlight on him. This, of course, breeds jealous enemies as well as cheering supporters (and is one reason why the Little Bighorn debacle was, and remains, so controversial). Urwin goes out of his way to make sure his book has no odor of the academic about it (despite the numerous footnotes and extensive bibliography): he writes in a familiar and totally informal style and describes much of the action in a novelistic way. This makes much of the book a page-turner - a fresh thing for historical writing. A most enjoyable read, and probably the definitive account of Custer in the Civil War - before his experiences on the Plains changed him and ultimately led to his downfall.



5. this book is valuable as a reference to Custer's Civil War service. At least you will learn in which battles he participated. Whether or not he was the brave hero portrayed is questionable simply because this author is so in love with Custer that everything else is disregarded.
   
   Urwin was only 24 years old when he wrote this book, and it shows. It's almost adolescent in its praise of Custer. He denigrates everyone who criticized Custer during his 7th Cav days. The enlisted men were "trash", the officers "petty and jealous". This is a book written by a young man with a lot to learn.

3 comments about The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Library of Freedom).

1. The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt is by far the most comprehensive collection of that President's major works. Each and every piece presented in this book is historically relevant. Formatted in chronological order, Hunt takes his reader on a journey from Roosevelt's First Gubernatorial Inaugural Address to remarks Roosevelt gave to congress on the Yalta Conference days before his death. The Essential FDR is the perfect book for anyone from a Roosevelt scholar or research-paper-writing high school student. Almost 350 pages of anything quotable by one of history's greatest men. As an aside, John Gabriel Hunt's introduction is also quite informative and gives great background information. If you want FDR, you want this book!



2. First - I hate political books that make it seem that you have to have an MBA to read it. But this book is intelligent, a reference guide, and a great book to which you will read great works of speeches. FDR, is a great idealist and essentially a great man. This is a great book, in which to read his thoughts.



3. The point of Franklin Roosevelt's brilliant fireside chats and other seminal speeches was that the listener could hear his voice and experience his charisma. This is impossible with this book which is merely lifeless words on the printed page. Of course some of FDR's speeches make interesting reading, but the entire thrust of his message is lost without the resonant voice and the indefinable "something" he brought to the microphone.

   Just yesterday I was listening on CD to FDR's incomparable Pearl Harbor speech from December 8, 1941. Even though this was long before I was born, I always get goosebumps listening to his intonations, the cheering from the Representatives and Senators and the feeling that you are actually witnessing history. There is none of this in this book, where reading speeches is a paltry substitute (at best) for listening to FDR, who was perhaps the most effective Presidential orator of the 20th century. Those who extol Reagan as an effective and charismatic communicator need to listen to Roosevelt.

   My advice is to buy a CD with the collected speeches of FDR and ignore this book. The idea is good but the premise flawed. You need to hear Roosevelt's voice, not merely read his words.

No comments about William Jennings Bryan: An Uncertain Trumpet.

1 comments about Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Journal of John Woolman, Fruits of Solitude (Harvard Classics, Part 1).

1. The content of this book is amazing. The only problem is that the people expressed themselves much more elegantly than we do now, where our language is more plain and direct. So the result is that if you aren't used to the way of speaking it takes a lot of concentration to read these; especially the first two by Ben Franklin and John Woolman.
   
   Here is a sample paragraph (by John Woolman), "As moderate care and exercise, under the direction of true wisdom, are useful to both mind and body, so by these means in general the real wants of life are easily supplied, our gracious Father having so proportioned one to the other that keeping in the medium we may pass on quietly. Where slaves are purchased to do our labor numerous difficulties attend it. To rational creatures bondage is uneasy, and frequently occasions sourness and discontent in them; which affects the family and such as claim mastery over them. Thus people and their children are many times encompassed with vexations, which arise from their applying to wrong methods to get a living."
   
   I haven't read the Ben Franklin segment yet, so can't comment on that but at least everyone knows who he is! John Woolman was a Quaker who, before our nation even declared its independance, had convinced the entire Quaker body in North America to free their slaves - all because he "had a scruple" about it. The arguments of those who had slaves, the way they rationalized it being ok are fascinating; as are the observations he had about what threatened the church - people becoming lax on their ethics because of the lure of wealth, comforts, and such. Woolman had a store for awhile but refused to sell anything that wasn't a necessity - no lace or fancy things; but then he became disillusioned with merchandising at all and supported himself with just being a tailor. He decided that the lure to becoming too personally invested in the dealings of business took him away from his spiritual center.
   
   The last piece, by William Penn reads like the book of Proverbs, but more organized - it's little lines of wisdom by one of our country's greatest spiritual thinkers, organized by topic. It has some real gems in it, and is a fun little read. Here's one example, "28. Such is now become our Delicacy, that we will not eat ordinary Meat, nor drink small, pall'd Liquor; we must have the best, and the best cook'd for our Bodies, while our Souls feed on empty or corrupted Things."

1 comments about Ted Turner Speaks: Insights from the World's Greatest Maverick (Speak Series).

1. The last review, sounds exactly like what Turner fought against, control freak zealots. He isn't mental, he is brilliant.
   
   In a media world where people like Rupert Murdock are put on a boat for a photo op, people like Ted Turner actually support the crew and stay onboard for the whole race, all 31,000 miles of it.
   
   Regardless of money my friends, that separates the men from the boys.
   
   Who would you want to be behind in the battle field?

No comments about The Generals: Andrew Jackson, Sir Edward Pakenham, and the Road to the Battle of New Orleans.

1 comments about Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren: The Apprentice Years, 1924-1934 (Southern Literary Studies).

1. This is a great collection of letters to read if you're interested in literature, history, friendship, geography, and the overall human experience. Robert Penn Warren is a giant in American literature and he had some interesting friends, as well. His explicit letters give readers insight into his close relationships with some of these friends and they also dive into the psyche of Warren himself - and how he overcame great odds to find success.

1 comments about Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman.

1. Metz `s thoroughly researched and well written biography details the controversial life of one of the Old West's most interesting characters, Pat Garrett - the lawman who shot and killed Billy the Kid. The story takes Garrett from his Southern childhood, to his days as a buffalo hunter on the Texas frontier, thru his tenure as a federal lawman and Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico. Metz addresses the mysterious death of Garrett . It was in that position that he became embroiled in the infamous Lincoln County War. The book also provides in-depth coverage of Henry McCarty - alias Billy the Kid. Thoroughly researched and entertainingly written, Metz's story of Pat Garrett will stand as the standard resource work on this noteworthy Old West character. James P. O'Connor - Nov. `9

5 comments about Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War.

1. I must begin this review by stating that this is the first book I have ever read on the Civil War. My review, thus, will be from the perspective of a person who possessed limited knowledge of the subject in retrospect to the other fine reviewers who have written in great detail about the subject.
   
   Overall, I enjoyed Ernest B. Furgurson's 'Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War', as I found many interesting and well researched subject matter easily presented and carefully constructed in the narrative. Through an incredible amount of research that is well placed, Furgurson managed to keep my interest from the beginning of the book, which starts out with the creation of Lady Liberty's bronze statue, all the way through the inevitable. In between, the reader learns of the many scandels, the outlandish behavior of all the players, the suggested but failed compromises, and the evolution of the slavery issue from not as significant with respect to Lincoln's desire to keep the Union as one, to the importance of the matter in keeping the country one nation. In contrast to the detail, I felt some of the more important players were minamized, particularly of U.S. Grant. There were times that I felt there was a lack of consistancy on the author's direction, but was more than willing to take the journey, and understand the issues presented in the country's capitol.



2. I work in Washington, D.C, specifically in the US Capitol, and I felt that while this work lacks significant historical interpretation (as some reviewers point out) we should remember that the author is a journalist first. This book gives a strong feel for what was going on in the city during the civil war, as if the reader were following events as they were likely to be covered in the newspapers at the time. There is also more in depth coverage, gleaned from personal accounts - as though the author were interviewing those writers, and as though the author / reader were working or living in the city at the time. It should be noted that MANY of the sites by the author are from contemporaneous periodicals. No surprise there. All these first hand accounts shed some much needed light on other than a typical military history of the city and its suburbs.
   
   Looked at in that light, this is an excellent work. It is unfettered with the typical historian's personal academic spin on events. I felt I was looking through a clearer and more familiar window into the past, as opposed to those fogged by the breath of the historian. Based on this read, I will definitely purchase the author's work on Richmond during the civil war.



3. Ernest Furgurson uses the statue atop the Capitol as a metaphor for the survival of the U.S. and the liberation of African-Americans. Even throughout the turmoil of the war, construction of the Capital continued, albeit haltingly, its progress symbolizing the triumph of the Union. This book is a must read for anyone who lives or works in the capital.
   
   Riddled with southern sympathizers and spies, the capital nevertheless became a truly federal city. Slave markets stood on the south side of Independence Ave, now a two-mile-long chain of government departments, and even on Lafayette Square. D St. and 21st, the present location of the State Department, was a huge stables; on Boxing Day, 1861, a fire broke out that killed thousands of horses and sent thousands more running through the city. For days afterwards, the city stank of burned horse meat. Present day conservatives would say that they still haven't cleaned out all the horse---- from the area. Federal Triangle was the red light district, catering to all tastes; digs have found piles of bottles of expensive French champagne where the bawdy houses one stood. Constitution Avenue was a canal -- Tiber Creek -- and all of the mall west from the Washington monument was the Potomac. Within months of the outbreak of war, Washington saw a string of firsts -- the first use of trains for strategic mobility, the first use of aerial reconnaissance, the first machine gun, the first suspension of habeas corpus, the first nursing corps, the first aircraft carrier (a balloon moored to a boat in the Potomoc that allowed the feds to observe the Confederate withdrawal from Occoquan and the Pohick Creek area where I now live). Furgurson writes of Lincoln, Stanton, Seward, Chase, Winfield Scott, Grant, and McLellan; of Confederate spies such as Antonia Ford; of dozens of soldiers and nurses, poets such as Whitman, and others who created the rich fabric of a capital at war, surrounded by hostiles. Washington, Furgurson writes, went from a town divided and fearful in 1861 to a "place of focused and confident power" in 1865. He does a superb job of reporting this huge political and physical transformation.
   
   Some other notes. George Washington's grand-nephew fought on behalf of the Confederacy, and was killed in September 1861. Some vengeful Northerners wanted to confiscate Mt. Vernon but a collection of women persuaded the military authorities to let them retain it as a national historic landmark. If the hallmark of sharp political speech is that it remains as relevant today as when it was uttered, these words of Lincoln to a crowd celebrating his re-election bear diirectly on the calls of some to postpone the Iraqi elections of January 30, 2005. "We cannot have free government without elections, and if the rebellion could force us to forgo or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."
   
   "Freedom Rising" was enlightening as well in how deeply runs the Democratic Party's visceral distrust of the federal government, whether as a player on the national stage or more currently in the international arena. The Democratic platform in 1864 "shrugged at slavery" and all but assured Lincoln's reelection. Gideon Wells described the platform as "unpatriotic, almost treasonable to the Union. The issue is made up. It is whether a war shall be made against Lincoln to get peace with Jeff Davis. Those who met at Chicago prefer hostility to Lincoln rather than to Davis." Democratic Party leaders still struggle with the dilemma of supporting a Republican leader in time of war.



4. This is a well written book. It is comprehensive yet not overwelming with detail. I am confused though how a journalist with Mr. Ferguson'snewapaper backgound would get some of the little facts WRONG! I am a member of the voluminous number who would be called Civil War Buffs (whatever that means)...yet I am not by any means an expert or an academic. But, with my ameteur acquantence with the topic I am appalled that in one line Mr. Ferguson puts Gettysburg in "Franklin" not Adams county, Pennsylvania and in another states that Mrs. Lincoln's Brother in law was killed in September at "Chattanooga"-when in fact he was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga. I must confess that such looseness with the facts-easlily checked-tends to put distrust in any other factual information he presents. A newspaperman, which Mr. Ferguson was for many years, must get the Who, What and Where correct! Sloppyness might be a result of poor editing...the final responsibility goes to the author.



5. War time Washington: Sharpsters, con men, spies, heroes, winners, losers. Some in uniform, some not. An eclectic mixture of the best and the worst the country had to offer and all focused on their own unique visions of opportunity.
   
   Ernest Furgurson captures the tumult of those four years, from Lincoln's early arrival, slipping into town in disguise, to his leaving as a corpse. Furgurson's Lincoln is a wonderfully human individual. And so are the rest of the supporting cast, the cabinet, congressmen, soldiers, contractors and everyday people who persevered in this most amazing struggle to save the Union and create a nation rededicated "to the proposition that all men are created equal."
   
   This was no easy task, no simple accomplishment, but rather a rough, rowdy brawl that was almost always out of control. This is a most gripping account of the chronology of major and minor events, of the very few triumphs, and the almost continuous sacrifice of all of the participants in what had to have been a most maddening struggle. In reading this book you can begin to understand the continual frustration and disappointments that ultimate success demanded. You will not be disappointed. This is a very good work.