5 comments about Rutherford B. Hayes.

1. Despite what some have said of old Rutherford, he probably wasn't our worst president. In fact, if he had been elected in 2000, his compromising approach would have went a long way in meeting the opposition. As it was, his contested election was in 1876, and it polarized the country again between North and South. However, his compromising attitute healed the wounds of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This was at the expense of black civil rights.
   
   I thought the author Trefousse did a good job of detailing Hayes life. Some of the previous reviewers might not be able to distinguish the subject from the author, but I believe Trefousse did a good job of summarizing his subject. The author comes to the same conclusion I have come to. The 1876 election was a flawed election where Democrats disenfranchised the black population in the South and then screamed bloody cheating to those contesting the South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida ballots. Rutherford was not Rutherfraud, but an honest politician trying to make a difference.
   
   An OK read on our 19th President.



2. I am currently reading a biography of every President. This is the first time I have selected one of the short biographies from the American President series. These biographies are very short, this particular one being 150 pages of text, made even shorter by the relatively small amount of text on each page - I would estimate roughly 2/3 the length of text compared to an "average" book. It is certainly more than manageable to read this book in one sitting.
   
   I was somewhat disappointed by the brevity of the book, which was even more pronounced than I expected. I will, however, review the book based upon its intention, and it was certainly not intended to be a comprehensive biography. The book does manage to present a full biographical sketch of Hayes with an acceptable overview of the issues in his Presidency. Trefousse's writing is straightforward although quite dry and he is overly concerned with comparing the 1876 and 2000 elections in an unsuccessful attempt to give the book a modern connection. Trefousse seems to approach his subject with about the same enthusiasm as a high school history student writing a term paper. The biggest shortcoming of the book however is not the lack of information but its inability to give the reader a true sense of Rutherford B. Hayes, the man.
   
   Ultimately, this book is barely satisfactory and I believe many readers will desire the more in depth biographies of either Ari Higenboom or Harry Barnard - I know I will probably go back and read one of these at some point. This book does, however, fill a need for a modern short biography of our 19th President and is recommendable in that capacity.



3. Rutherford B. Hayes has always ended up in the middle of presidential ratings, and Hans L. Trefousse's taut biography of our nineteenth president would not move him up or down that list. Trefousse does a good job in assessing President Hayes as a man and as an administrator, though "comprehensive" is not a word used to describe the biographies in this American Presidents' series.
   
   The remarkable ascendency of Hayes to the presidency after the disputed election of 1876 has parallels to the election of 2000, but Trefousse (with an apparent dig at George W. Bush) elevates Hayes by suggesting that Hayes tried to bring together various warring factions while Bush did not. It's a good reflection. Hayes's stellar service during the Civil War, in which the future president was wounded more than once, is covered in great detail by the author. (Because of the quiet nature of the four years Hayes spent in the White House, this book needed some "fleshing out"). We know that Hayes was honest and his administration was largely beneficial to the country. I view his term as something akin to Gerald Ford's...a transitional time where the country needed healing. In fact Hayes's biggest accomplishment was the removal of Federal troops from the South, meaning an end to Reconstruction. That is the chief legacy of the Hayes administration. The president was also big on civil service reform, taken to higher limits by Chester Arthur a few years later. It's a fascinating reminder that Indian affairs still took up some of the President's time, but what is one of the more notable aspects of this book is how often and how much President Hayes traveled while in office and in retirement. He was the first president to visit the West Coast, for example.
   
   Rutherford B. Hayes served adequately and he should be remembered for a solid four years in office, if not much more. There certainly have been worse presidents but Trefousse justifiably gives Hayes credit for some accomplishments and I recommend this book as a good introduction to our nineteenth president.



4. The Bush-Gore election 0f 2000 is one of four disputed presidential elections in United States history, together with the 1800 contest among Jefferson, Burr and John Adams and the 1824 election which featured four candidates, John Quincy Adams, Jackson, Clay, and Crawford. But the most controversial of America's disputed presidential elections remains that of 1876 in which the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was determined to be the winner over the Democrat Samuel Tilden even though Tilden won the popular vote.
   
   Hans Trefousse, Distinguished Professor of History at Brooklyn College and a specialist in the Reconstruction Era, has written an informative short biography of Rutherford B. Hayes, the victor of 1876, as part of the American Presidents series. For readers interested in acquiring basic knowledge of one of our lesser known presidents,this biography is a good source.
   
   Rutherford B. Hayes (1822 -- 1893) attended Kenyon College and Harvard Law School. He enlisted in the Army at the outset of the Civil War and served with great distinction, rising to the rank of Major General. Hayes was elected twice to the House of Representatives and served three terms as the Governor of Ohio. In 1876, Hayes became a dark horse nominee for the presidency as a compromise candidate of a Republican Party torn by factionalism.
   
   The disputed presidential contest of 1876 came to dominate Hayes's career and his presidency. The electoral votes of three Southern states, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana were sharply contested. Ultimately, a Commission appointed by Congress voted 8-7 along party lines to award the election to Hayes. The dispute over the election involved, among other issues, the votes of African Americans during Recounstuction. The votes of many counties that allegedly had supported Tilden were discounted because African Americans had been denied their right to vote by fraud and violence. The Hayes-Tilden election remains the most controversial election in our history, and scholars still are divided about whether the decision in favor of Hayes was proper.
   
   Hayes was placed in an extraordinarily difficult position as president with the Democrats calling for his impeachment and referring to Hayes as "his fraudulency" and the divided Republican Party offering tepid support to him at best. The immediate result of Hayes's election was the end of Reconstruction as the Army was removed from the South. Trefousse points out that this result would have likely happened in any event. Ironically, Hayes also withdrew support from Republican governors in South Carolina and Louisiana -- two states that were critical to his election. The end of Reconstruction which followed the disputed election and the segregation, Jim Crow, and discrimination which were to follow is the most remembered and unfortunate aspect of Hayes's presidency.
   
   Hayes himself was an honest, educated person with an excellent ability to get along with people, including those whose views differed from his own, and a good compromiser. He also had considerable independence and a progressive tendencies. He worked towards reform of the Civil Service System to base hiring decisions for lower-level positions on merit, supported education, and tried to protect African American voting rights. In the last two years of his presidency, he repeatedly vetoed attempts by the Democratically -controlled Congress to remove Federal officials and military personnel from polling places in the South -- on grounds that this removal would violate the voting rights of African Americans. Hayes pursued a moderate policy towards the American Indians and, in one of his finest acts, issued an apology to the Ponca Tribe for injusticies it had suffered during his Administration.
   
   While the 1876 election clouded his entire presidency, Hayes kept his promise to serve only one term. His presidency conciliated the nation which had been deeply divided by his election, and he governed in an honest scandal-free manner in contrast to the administration of his predecessor. Probably as a result of Hayes's substantial efforts in unifying the country, Tilden was denied the Democratic presidential nomination in 1880, and the election again went to the Republican candidate, James Garfield.
   
   Trefousse sees Hayes as a healer and a compromiser following his disputed election. Trefousee concludes: "aware of the tenuous nature of his election, he knew how to bridge over various disputes and thus heal the serious differences between factions, sections, and parties. ... His significance, then, lies in his ability to overcome factionalism and exercise power in such a way that the dubious nature of his election could eventually be forgotten." (p. 150) These were valuable accomplishments for his time. Hayes is not among the greatest of American presidents, but the manner in which he handled his disputed presidency remains worth remembering.
   
   Robin Friedman



5. President Rutherford (called "Rud" by friends) is best known, probably, for being a (as his opponents put it) fraudulent president." Of course, this refers to (a) his becoming president while being whipped in the national popular vote and (b) the process by which a couple contested southern states (perhaps ironic given the 2000 contested presidential election, Florida) had their electoral votes assigned to Hayes.
   
   But what else do most people know about Hayes? Probably not much. And this slender volume, another in the series "The American Presidents" (edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.), can remedy that ignorance.
   
   Hayes was born in Vermont and ended up moving to Ohio while still young. He went to college at Kenyon and then studies law at Harvard. Politically, he became a Whig until the party began imploding, whereupon he joined the new Republican Party. When the Civil War began, he volunteered for service and had a career of which he was justly proud. He rose through the ranks and fought ably in West Virginia and with the Army of the Potomac. As the war closed, his political career began with a vengeance. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
   
   The book continues with his political ascent, from Congressman to Governor of Ohio and to the Republican nomination for President in 1876 (with a handful of defeats, by the way, scattered in between). There were a whole series of contenders for the nomination, and Hayes' eventual nomination occurred because none of the major players could get enough delegates to be nominated, and Hayes was settled upon as the party's choice. Then, of course, his contested victory. The book does an excellent job dissecting what actually happened, and the interpretation is different from the standard view.
   
   As President, one of his first actions was beginning to remove federal troops from the South while trying to assure that recently freed slaves would retain their rights. It appears that he naively thought that southern leaders would actually live up to their promises to maintain the rights of freed slaves. The book does a good job outlining his accomplishments (adequate but not earth shaking) as well as his travails (intraparty disputes, gridlock with Congress, and so on). Apparently, he was perceived as honest and just, even by many opponents. Assessment? The author notes (Page 129): "What did Hayes contribute to the presidency? His biographers have generally credited him with unifying the country, though faulting him for not succeeding in safeguarding blacks' rights."
   
   Then, his post-presidential career is outlined.
   
   This is another in a fine series of books. The thought dawns on me as I am reading books in this series that very few 19th century presidents really stood out and were transformational. I knew that intellectually, but reading these biographies emphasizes the point. Anyway, a good addition to the series and well worth reading if you wish to learn more about American presidents.

5 comments about Twelve Years a Slave.

1. A compelling and wrenchingly honest first-hand account of slavery, many
   times breaking my heart and making me think of the children of Africa
   today. A new book, "The Last Witness From a Dirt Road" which takes
   place in 1946, was given to me after commenting about Solomon Northup's
   narrative, and it could almost be a sequel to Twelve Years a Slave,
   written a 100 years later by the son of an overseer on a plantation
   along the banks of Bayou Bouef in the same location in Louisiana. Old
   social and economic orders seemed little changed from 1841 to 1946,
   tragic, heart rendering but both books are riveting and honest, are
   timely and universal.



2. This book presents its readers with a first-hand account of not only the cruelties of United States slavery itself, but more importantly it touches upon the ways in which other areas of social life were negatively influenced by the institution. Solomon Northup was a black man who was born a free black man in New York in 1808. In 1841, Northup was kidnapped in Boston and take to the south to be sold as a slave. He spent the next 12 years as a slave, and this book was written after he was rescued in 1853.
   
   Many people have associated this book with "Uncle Tom's Cabin" ever since the former was published. While the story line is not exactly the same, there are a lot of similarities. Most notably, both books have evil Northerners and benevolent Southerners, a feature that I think is too often overlooked. This adds credibility to Northup's account, insofar as he does not simply condemn all Southerners. Other themes, such as the break-up of slave families, the harsh treatment of slaves (especially female slaves who had the misfortune of handsomeness), and camaraderie between slaves also reflect those written about in "Uncle Tom's Cabin".
   
   In the past the credibility of Northup's work had been in question, especially since a newspaper worker helped him write his account. However, in light of the vast number of particular details the Northup provides and the extent to which those details match up with other records, historians generally view this work as an authentic and truthful account of a free man sold into slavery. This is an incredible read, and the fact that it is a real account makes it even more fascinating. This book should be required reading for high school or college American history classes that cover the Civil War era.



3. While browsing thru the Boston Public Library in 1970 I accidentally came across this book. I have read it at least ten times over the years, have kept in touch with the editor, Sue Eakin, an expert on the South and cultural matters of this kind. This book is an inspiration to everyone. You will be amazed at the tenacity and sheer courage of Northup as he makes his way thru 12 long years on the plantation, and remember that he did not KNOW it would be 12 years. Every Jan 3 or 4th I wake up and think to myself, this is the day Solomon was set free! This book is clearly a treasure that is relatively unknown. You will not read this book only once-----



4. I had to read this book for school and was very suprised because the story takes place in and around my hometown. I had always saw the "Northup Trail" signs but never knew what they were about until I read this book. I grew up in Avoyelles Parish so this story really hit home. It is an awesome but tragic story everyone should read.



5. I, like another reviewer, read this about 8 years ago when in a college Civil War course. I never sold mine back because I knew I would want to read it again. I also immediately bought copies for my mom and a friend that is a descendant of Caribbean slaves. I can't believe this book isn't more widely known; in fact, it saddens me because Solomon Northup's story is so riveting and deserves recognition.
   
   I was glued to the story from about the third chapter to the end. It was almost like a thriller or mystery because you want to know what happens! Much of it was heartbreaking, though. I had tears streaming down my face when he describes Patsey's predicament. The unending hope and love from his family really touched me, too.
   
   I think this account is even better than Uncle Tom's Cabin for 2 reasons. First, the plot is not as disjointed. Second, and most importantly, everything in the account is true. What's even more amazing is that the author, despite being stolen from his family and forced into servitude, remains somewhat objective about his ordeal. He is a natural storyteller. You can tell Northup was extremely intelligant and observant. His prose is beautiful and easy to read despite being written in the 1850's.
   
   Anyone with even a remote interest in American slavery or Antebellum/Civil War history should read this book.

5 comments about Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II.

1. Charles B. MacDonald wrote what it was like for a 21year old to command two infantry companies in WW2. He took notes along the way (I have a page of his notes that survived). They cover the capture of Hombressen in Germany. I also have the original typewriter on which he typed the manuscript of his book. I have trvelled the route he took in 1944/45 and found his descriptions of the various lovcations to be exceedingly accurate in every detail.
   
   Will Cavanagh



2. An excellent book about the leadership of an army officer during the
   crucial battles that ended WWII in Europe. As an untested officer thrown
   into the Battle of the Bulge he performed magnificently. His mettle was sorly tested,and his humanity shone through. A very,very good read



3. In 1947 Charles MacDonald published Company Commander. It is his story of leadership under fire from the Siegfried Line to Czechoslovakia. In September 1944 Captain MacDonald was given command of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. The lives of nearly two-hundred men were his responsibility; MacDonald was twenty-one years old.
   
   MacDonald received his baptism of fire in a squalid, captured German pill-box part of the captured Siegfried Line his men were ordered to hold. Five days before the massive German attack in the Ardennes, MacDonald's 2nd Division was relieved by the 106th Infantry Division. As a result of the German offensive that began on 16 December 1945, two of the three infantry regiments of the 106th Division would be surrounded and captured.
   
   MacDonald's unit was moved north for an attack into, and through, the Siegfried Line aimed at taking the Roer Dams. The jumping off point for this attack was along the north flank of what was to become "The Bulge." On the evening of 16 December, MacDonald was ordered to quickly deploy with the other companies of 3rd Battalion to hold a vital crossroads "at all costs." Nobody knew it at the time but elements of two German Divisions, the 277th Volksgrenadier and the 12th SS Panzer, were headed for that crossroads.
   
   The 17th would witness concentrated hell in the forest in front of the crossroads. MacDonald's men held off six successive attacks by German infantry. The Germans got closer to the American foxholes with each successive attack. MacDonald's men were getting low on ammunition and had received no artillery support. Except for two M4 Shermans somewhere behind their position, I Company had no anti-tank defenses. At that moment five Tiger Tanks rumbled up the road. The German tanks began to systematically blast the Americans in their foxholes. After approximately thirty minutes of that I Company broke for the rear. The Shermans got two of the German tanks before being destroyed.
   
   MacDonald arrived at the battalion headquarters only knowing where a handful of his men were. As he states he was disgusted with himself feeling he had failed to hold the crossroads and by allowing many of his men to be killed or captured. He wondered if he would be court-martialed and if it would not have been better to have been killed in the battle. The first thing his battalion commander said to him was, "nice work, Mac." The 3rd Battalion had held the crossroads under impossible conditions just long enough for the 2nd Division's other regiments to get into position. MacDonald received the Silver Star.
   
   Richard E. Cowan was a machine gunner from M Company assigned to MacDonald's unit during the battle. For staying at his gun and covering the other men in their retreat, Cowan became the subject of both German infantry and tanks. Nevertheless, Cowan held his position and was the last man to pull back. He was killed the next day. For his efforts on 17th December he received the Medal of Honor.
   
   Jose Lopez, another machine gunner who was attached to the neighboring K Company, also received the Medal of Honor for his courage on 17th December. Fortunately, Lopez survived the war and lived to a ripe old age. Reading the award citations gives some indication of the ferocity of the German attack.
   
   A month later leading his company in a counterattack MacDonald was wounded. After two months of recuperating, MacDonald was given command of G Company of the 2nd Battalion of his old regiment. MacDonald led this company from the Rhine to Leipzig and into Czechoslovakia by the war's end.
   
   The book isn't all blood and gore there are moments of humor and dialogue right out of a movie. For example, MacDonald reports the following comments by his troops who had just witnessed a P-47 fighter-bomber attack on German positions:
   
   "Well, their work's done for the day," someone said. "Yeah," a mortarman answered, reaching for a shovel, "they'll go home now and have a short Scotch and a hot bath and shack up with some mademoiselle or some Limey wench. What a life!" "Yeah, and draw a double salary for it," a headquarters man put in. "That's the life for me." Willie Hagan said, "Oh, dry up. You never had it so good."
   
   In passing MacDonald notes that the 3rd Battalion surgeon was Edward T. Matsuoka of Honolulu. Matsuoka received his medical degree in 1941 and was awarded the Bronze Star for his efforts during the Battle of the Bulge.
   
   MacDonald was wounded on 17 January 1945. The final volume of the Green Series on the European Theater, The Last Offensive, takes off from around that time and concludes with the war's ending. This volume of the series was written by Charles B. MacDonald who retired as Deputy Chief Historian, U.S. Army in 1979. MacDonald also wrote or co-wrote two other books of the Green Series, The Siegfried Line Campaign and Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo, and Schmidt. He also contributed to Command Decisions.
   
   After retiring, MacDonald wrote A Time for Trumpets (note the title). This, I believe, was his last book. It is the history of the Ardennes Offensive and concentrates on the first two weeks of the struggle. Needless to say, this was a deeply personal work for him:
   
   "I approached the work with a kind of messianic zeal, for I wanted to tell the story to my own satisfaction (the battle had shaped my life, and I have always felt that I left a little something of me in the Ardennes)."
   
   This leads to the question, can someone with such an intense personal involvement write an objective history? I believe he did. It is the best work I've read on the battle (not that I have read them all). Perhaps, MacDonald had a personal need to understand what had happened and therefore, he wrote an honest account because of his personal involvement.
   
   The title of the work is of interest because of the ongoing debate about "Drums and Trumpets" military history that focuses on battles, leaders, weapons and campaigns and the future and direction of the field. This may be what MacDonald had in mind when he penned the closing paragraph of A Time for Trumpets:
   
   "Hitler saw the American soldier as the weak component (the "Italians") of the Western alliance, the product of a society too heterogeneous to field a capable fighting force. Bouck, Crawford, Tsakanikas, Umanoff, Moore, Reid, Descheneaux, O'Brien, Jones, Erlenbusch, Goldstein, McKinley, Mandichak, Spigelman, Garcia, Russamano, Wieszcyk, Nawrocki, Campbell, Barcellona, Leinbaugh. Black men, too, although their color was hardly reflected in their names. The heterogeneity was indeed there, but at many a place - at Krinkelt-Rocherath, at Dom. Butgenbach, in the Losheim Gap, behind the Schnee Eifel, at St. Vith, atop Skyline Drive, at the Parc Hotel, Echternach, Malmedy, Stavelot, Stoumont, Bastogne, Verdenne, Baraque de Fraiture, Hotton, Noville - the American soldier put the lie to Hitler's theory. His was a story to be told to the sound of trumpets."



4. I loved this book. It depicted the toil and drudgery of the WWII combat infantryman. There are no frills in this story, just the day to day experience of being on the spearhead of the Allied push into Germany. It portrayed the feelings and emotions of the men, in a very accurate light. I'm sure that there are people that will read this book and feel that they haven't been entertained. However, this book is not about entertainment. It is about the reality of the men that fought so unselfishly in the Ardennes Forest, and suffered intense hunger, cold (this was one of the coldest winters ever recorded in Europe), anxiety and fears. It also portrays the humor that existed amoung these brothers in arms. It is a great companion to Mac's other history, "A Time for Trumpets." Great, GREAT book! Thanks Mac!



5. Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II by Charles B. MacDonald. I highly recommend Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II by Charles B. MacDonald. At just 21 years of age, Captain Charles B. MacDonald first commanded I Company, 3 Battalion 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division from October 1944 to January 1945 and later G Company, 2 Battalion 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division from March to May 1945. This memoir was written in 1947 when recollections were still sharp. It resulted in a very detailed account of what it was like to take command of a line infantry company and lead it into battle. The book gives us template for writing a personal military memoir.
   
   It is by far the finest memoir of any junior officer in World War II. Charles MacDonald does a great job of keeping his focus on his own experiences. He does not speculate or waste my time by giving conjecture on the big picture. We only have first hand information from the events of his personal participation. He sticks to what life was like for a junior officer in command of an infantry company, sleepless, hungry, dirty, stressful, and very dangerous. He takes us from the Siegfried Line in the Ardennes, through the Battle of the Bulge, and to the end of the war in the Czechoslovakia.
   
   This book is a must-read for all army officers who seek to command at company-level and it is informative for military historians as well. It is still required reading at West Point and on the company level officer (second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and captain) recommended reading list by the U.S. Army today. Upon this book's publication in 1947, Charles B. MacDonald was invited to join the U.S. Army Center of Military History as a civilian historian, the start of a career during which he wrote three of the official histories of World War II in Europe and supervised the preparation of others. The book is simply the best. Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler in June 2006.

5 comments about A Year in the South: 1865: The True Story of Four Ordinary People Who Lived Through the Most Tumultuous Twelve Months in American History.

1. This book is a very, very good read. I am normally a very slow reader, but I finished this book in about two weeks. I read it before I went to bed, I read it at work, I read it in my spare time. I just couldn't get enough of it. The book follows four people in the South--one a slave, then a freedman; one a widow and refugee; one a former Confederate soldier who is moving towards the priesthood; and one a preacher who has lots of idle time--in differing locations. Their experiences tell the tale of the experiences of many Southerners at this time in history. As the author states in the foreword, though, this book does not attempt to claim that the experience of these four people can tell the tale of the entire South in 1865, but it gives us an understanding of what the experience was like for some people. The book is also interesting because most books of this nature stop with the end of the Confederacy, but this book deals with the whole year, so we get the reaction to the slaves being freed, Yankees occupying the South, the quest for jobs, and more. Overall, the book is well written and extremely interesting.



2. Would you like some real insight into the lives of your ancestors during a portion of the Civil War? Do you wish you could take a time machine trip back to 1865 and feel what it was like for ordinary people, without Hollywood glamour, without layers of historical filters?
   
   Read this book, wherein author Stephen Ash recounts how the last year of the War Between the States affected the lives of four very different, very ordinary people. One is a widow struggling daily with crushing poverty. Another is a young man developing into a preacher. One is a former Confederate soldier trying to establish a new life and avoid the chaos around him and the fourth a slave whose inner desire for liberty cannot be extinguished. The travails and emotions of these people are easily recognizable to us today. In some measure you can vicariously experience this momentous period in our history through them. Their stories are individually compelling and wrenching for different reasons but you will not be able to escape caring for them.
   
   Ash follows each person through 1865, the year that saw the end of the war and the end of slavery. They each saw the year from very different vantage points but separately and together their stories reveal the typical. Ash avoids being broad, which would be vague and unsatisfactory to the reader. Further, he makes no judgements and allows these individuals to simply be who they are. What results is less the glossy, two dimensional portrait that one often finds when reading biographies of famous people and more the familial.
   
   I found the book captivating and I highly recommend it.



3. I highly recommend this book. The stories are captivating. I didn't want it to end. As the review states, this book is about the lives of 4 ordinary people who lived through the Civil War. You will get caught up in the people and their lives. It's almost as if you know them personally. Great book!



4. Wonderful way to tie several story lines into each other while revealing true stories from the Civil War. I'd recommend this for anyone interested in the history of this period.



5. Stephen Ash does an outstanding job of telling the story of four people living during The Civil War, and how their lives drastically changed as a result of the war. A Year in the South tells the story of four different people living in the South, season by season throughout 1865. Ash brings the reader inside the lives of these four people and explicitly details every problem, every setback and even every accomplishment that occurs within their lives which allows the reader to feel remorse for Cornelia and cheerful for Louis. This book is an amazing recreation of The Civil War era whether you read the entire book, or just each season from a single person's life.

5 comments about Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography.

1. Nathan Bedford Forrest is in my opinion the most interesting soldier from the Civil War. A cavalryman who rose from private to lieutenant general, Forrest was a very dedicated soldier who fought with valor and honor, even though his education would be described as minimal at best. Jack Hurst's biography presents Forrest in a seemingly unbiased manner and focuses on all of his attributes. After reading the book I feel I know a lot more about the man, as well as hold a great deal more respect for him. However, Hurst's portrait of Forrest is extremely long winded and often repeats itself. Many pages of the book take a lot of time to read because the reader must re-read some of the sentences to understand what was said. All in all the book was very informative and should be read by die-hard fans of the Civil War generals, but the book could have been about 100 pages shorter and worded much better.



2. The generals of the Civil War are remembered in contrasts. Sherman, Sheridan and Grant, were...well, common. They were hard drinking men, willing to sacrifice any number - thousands of men - believing the ends justified the means. They were not tall, handsome or dashing, so maybe that is why the Generals of the confederacy live so vividly in our imaginations. A lot of the Southerns were gentlemen, they were the epitome of the genteel South - or at least how we often see it in our imaginations, when we can divorce the spectre of Slavery from that vision. They were men in grey, who rode off to fight for what they believed, and no one more so than Nathan Bedford Forrest.

   Only Forrest does not fit that stereotypical Southern Gentleman. He was born in a log-cabin (as was Lincoln and Jefferson Davis); he was a failed businessman same as Grant. He was hard living, coarse like Sherman and Sheridan. And quite possibly one of the most complex figures to come out of the period. He did not fight in the Army of Northern Virginia under Lee, which keeps him out of the general attention of those learning about the Civil War. His first notable occurrence in the Civil War was the Fort Pillow Incident, where - still today we do not understand what happened - how black and white men supposedly surrendering were put to death by Forrest's command. Jefferson David never understood Forrest's guerrilla-like methods of fighting - but one could not dispute the results. He believed calvary men were not as JEB Stuart, dashing figures leading gallant charges, but were fighting men who used horses to get from point A to point B, "the firstest with the mostest" as he is often misquoted saying. As such, military tactics are still questioned and studied today. He did not enter the war as one of the 'nobility' but came in as a private to rise to the ranks of Lieutenant General. A superb tactician, a ferocious fighter unequalled - he killed 30 men and had his horse shot out from under him 29 times! After the war, he was one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan, it's first Grand Wizard, only to turn around and repudiate it and tried disband it for his racial hatred.

   Forrest has been called 'that devil forrest', the 'wizard of the saddle', Historian Shelby Foote called him one of the two great geniuses of the period (Lincoln being the other) and by Lee `the most extraordinary man the Civil War produced'. He was a slaver trader and owner, yet upon his death in 1877, it is well noted that his funeral was attended by hundreds of ex-slaves.

   Jack Hurst gives a very balance view of this highly controversial figure and complex figure, showing his prowess, his faults and how he influences fighting of the period. Tries not to excuse or explain away Fort Pillow, but place it in proper perspective.

   His work is wonderful look at the man often ignored or overlooked by general history.




3. He was a born military genius. A man born on the margins of survival in the rural South, who supported his family after his father's early death.
   He did what had to be done to save his Mother and siblings from abject
   poverty.

   He was a successful businessman in the pre war American South and yes he did sell slaves. You must remember that this was a perfectly legal
   business. PC whining about yesterday's values miss the point. He was
   a millionaire before the war, when a million dollars was probably worth
   50 million or more in today's dollars.

   As Alexis de Toqueville said, (I'm paraphrasing) the slaves of the South were treated better and all in all lived better than blacks in the North. They were raised from infancy through old age and many of their years were unproductive to the slave owner, but still they were supported.

   Back to the book.

   This book lays out the commitment of Forrest to the "cause", when he
   raises and arms a large group of fighting men at his own expense. He
   was the only man to rise from a private to a General in either army.

   The book shows Forrest at his heroic best when defeating vastly superior forces with double envelopment tactics, which he invented on the spot out of necessity. He also employed psychological tactics against the enemy and once he had them retreating he would run them down for days and nights without sleep, food or rest, until they had been
   killed or surrendered.

   He labored under the incompetent General Bragg, until he forces a re-assignment to another superior. His many talents were frequently wasted making up for Bragg's mistakes, but he attacks them with tremendous focus and determination.

   Forrest was a dominating personality and foe. Slow to anger, but once aroused his physical appearance would change and this alone
   was frequently enough to put down any personal challenge to his person.

   He personally killed something like 28 of the enemy and had 30 horses
   shot out from under him. He was the most hands on leader and fighter
   I've found in either army. He personally led most of the cavalry charges
   and once when finding himself all alone in the middle of the enemy
   cavalry, he swung his horse around and picked up a short Union soldier
   and held him across his back as a shield to prevent the enemy from
   shooting him. He dropped the short Union shield when safely away from
   enemy.

   Oh, and Fort Pillow, I'm not sure what really happened there, but incomparison to what Grant's understudy, Sherman did on his trip of total devastation through Georgia, it pales in comparison for these war crimes. West Point taught it's soldier's what was a war crime and Sherman knew what he was doing to civilian's and their property was a great war crime. A war crime rarely mentioned.

   Once the war was over he did work to re-integrate the Southern Soldier
   back into life in the Union. He could have been an unstoppable Guerilla
   leader has he chosen this path. But ultimately he recognized the need
   for peace to prevail.

   Hurst paints a vivid picture of a man who lived on the edge of extinction
   and put all of his energy into winning every confrontation, but was not
   used by Jefferson Davis for maximum effect because he wasn't a West Pointer. This was a big loss to the CSA.

   In the end, he died a man at peace with his God, but lived a life that
   is well worth examining and admiring. Nature produces few specimens
   like Forrest. When Lee was asked who was his best fighter in his Army,
   he said, "Forrest, a man I've never met".

   I found this book throughly entertaining and suggest that all who have
   an open mind will read and have a hard time putting down this book.
   There are also other excellent books on Forrest, an object of endless
   fascination.




4. I gave it a 4 because the military campain analysis is not the best, but there are other, better books for this. This book gives insight into Forrest as the person, including his action after the war. It does a superb job of adressing the issues of the Klan and racism, and I gained a newfound respect for General Forrest.

   After reading this there is no doubt in my mind that this man is almost completely misunderstood. The details included and Hurst's own conclusions from these are logical and insightful, and bring out Forrest's true colors: As perhaps the first true civil rights leader and racial equality advocate.

   This book is must for anyone wishing for a full understanding of this incredible man.




5. Nathan Bedford Forrest was one of the most interesting figures from the mid-19th Century. He was also one of the most controversial -- given his role as Confederate cavalryman, Fort Pillow, and the rise of the first KKK. Thus a n account of his life that shows no bias is an exceptional work, and that's what Jack Hurst brought to the table with his book.
   
   For the most part, Hurst delivers the goods on Forrest. The man's life, as slavetrader, soldier, and Klansman, is detailed, down to the semi-literate letters written in a rough hand as Forrest had. A little-too-detailed -- I think some of the battle scenes, as exciting as they can get, could've been described in less words. Still a good, balanced biography on Forrest that should satisfy anybody looking for such a book.

4 comments about In the Shadow of the Mountain: The Spirit of the CCC.

1. Although expecting a technical manual on the role of the Civilian Conservations Corps in the "New Deal" era, I was pleasently surprised at the direction this book takes. "In the Shadow of the Mountain" is a first person narative of life in two separate CCC camps, one on the east coast and one on the west. This book provides plenty of insight into the accomplishments of the CCC and of the daily life of its members. I highly recommend this book to those interested in the political and economic history of the Great Depression and beyond.



2. Mr. Hill does an excellent job of weaving the personal narratives of the "We Can Take It" boys with the potentially dry historical subject of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Not only do I now understand how the boys lived, what they did, how they felt, etc., but also how, why, and when the program began. It's a rich part of our history and one that each generation should know about. This is a book each family needs to include in their family library!



3. I became interested in learning more about the CCC when so many of the National and State parks that I visit had displays lauding the accomplishments of the CCC. Over 65 years later we're still enjoying the fruits of their labor! This book was my first attempt at reading more about them and I wasn't disappointed.
   
   Mr. Hill does a very good job describing his own personal experiences, those of his personal CCC buddies, and adds several other brief first-person accounts at the end. All together, the reader gets a good overall taste for what camp life was like and the tremendous accomplishments of this civilian army (some examples: 38,087 vehicle bridges, 83,548 miles of telephone lines, 5.9 million erosion check dams, 2.2 billion trees planted, 6.3 million mandays fighting forest fires). Woven throughout is a sense of just how brillant this government program was during the desperate times of the Depression--the CCC was simply a spectacular win-win for everyone.
   
   Overall, there seems to be a lack of good detailed histories and first-person accounts about the CCC. I cannot figure out why--so many lives were benefically influenced by the CCC and their successes are almost innumerable. "In the Shadow" was a great place to start learning more about the "We can take it" boys and has only whetted my appetite for more.



4. This book should be required reading for every high school student. In the Shadow of the Mountain gives our generation an appreciation for the price that was paid by a great generation before us.
   JER

No comments about Founding Fathers: The Essential Guide to the Men Who Made America.

No comments about U.S. Military History For Dummies (For Dummies (History, Biography & Politics)).

5 comments about Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power.

1. This is a brilliant book! It is extremely well researched, well written and tremendously interesting.
   
   Author Richard Carwardine provides unparalleled insights into the life of Abraham Lincoln, his pursuit of political power, and his use of that power once installed in the White House.
   
   Lincoln made many mistakes as a politician, President of the United States, and Commander and Chief of the Union armies. But he learned from those mistakes and emerged as a powerful leader, who dominated every aspect of Union strategy - political, economic and military.
   
   More importantly, during the Civil War he alone stood rock solid in the belief that there could be no compromise with the Confederacy that would undermine the union of the United States. Later he extended his unwillingness to compromise to the issue of slavery. Thus, while others around wavered, Lincoln stood firm in the belief that the Union had to remain united and that slavery had to end.
   
   This book was a joy to listen and I was enthralled by the rich and flowing narrative and the valuable insights I gained into the life of my favorite President. Lincoln was a master at manipulating those around him and, more importantly, at crafting a powerful message aimed at eliciting the support of other politicians and the American people.



2. This book will give you insight on the political tactics Lincoln used and will also educate you on some of his beginnings.
   
   For a true biography I'd look elsewhere.



3. Presumption presented as bold fact. I do not like others telling us the hidden thoughts and motives of others (as this book does). We barely understand ourselves. The bible says of our own hearts "who can know it?". Yet this writer presumes to know more about Lincolns heart than even Lincoln did. Sorry but "No".



4. If one were to approach Richard Carwardine's "Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power" and expect an exhaustive review of Lincoln's life then it would be easy to be critical of Carwardine's treatment of the life of Abraham Lincoln. Carwardine's focus is quite narrow and the biographical details of his personal life are, at best, sparse. Instead, Carwardine elucidates Lincoln's political life and his apparent spiritual growth over the course of his political life. The reader in search of a full picture of Lincoln would actually be better served to read Carwardine's book in conjunction with David Herbert Donald's fine biography Lincoln.
   
   Lincoln presided over the most tumultuous time in the history of the United States and Lincoln's presidency witnessed (and contributed) to the greatest Constitutional crisis in the history of the United States. In order to confront the tumult, Lincoln assembled a gifted cabinet made up of rivals. Carwardine expertly depicts the rivalries as well as the achievements of this extraordinary cabinet. If one is looking for a fuller treatment of Lincoln's cabinet, one should read Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
   
   Carwardine also take great pains to portray Lincoln's great respect for the rule of law and precedent. For Lincoln, it was not as simple as emancipating the slaves. While the ideals of liberty and equality were enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the sanctity of property rights were enshrined in the Constitution, most notably the Due Process clause in the Fifth Amendment. Whether rightly or wrongly, slaves were considered "property" and to emancipate the slaves would be to deprive the salveholder of property "without due process." Carwardine shows Lincoln struggling with legal justifications (e.g. military necessity) for emancipation and means of emancipation (e.g. compensated emancipation). The only way to rightfully square the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution would be to enshrine the ideal of liberty and equality in the Constitution and, thus, the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery was passed.
   
   Carwardine also spends some time on Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Many find it ironic that the "Great Emancipator" was also responsible for the suspension of habeas corpus and the detention of thousands of people without trial. For a fuller treatment of Lincoln suspension of habeas corpus (as well as the exegencies of war) check out William Rehnquist's All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime.
   
   I would also be remiss not to direct you to the Amazon review of Etienne ROLLAND-PIEGUE.
   
   Dick Hill's narration begins quite flat and in using vocal inflections to denote the words of Lincoln, Hill had a tendency to make Lincoln sound like "crazy uncle Jethro." However, Hill's narration picks up steam in Chapter 2 and by the end you can see why he has been named a "Golden Voice" by Audiofile Magazine.



5. Abraham Lincoln was born dirt poor on a farm near Hodgenville, Ky in 1809. He died with a bullet in his head on April 15, 1865 in a boarding house in Washington DC where he had been taken following Booth's fatal shot. Lincoln had been attending Ford's Theatre for a performance onf
   "Our American Cousin." As Richard Carwardine shows in his Lincoln Prize winning biography Mr. Lincoln is our our peerless American hero whose marytdom and mythic life have made him an iconic figure of democratic freedom throughout the world.
   Carwardine's book is not a traditional biography in which author follows the outward events of a figure's life. Instead, the author looks with Sherlock Holmes microscopic inquiry at the moral development of the great man. He shows that Lincoln felt slavery was wrong; issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 and defended the Constitution and Union throughout our most destructive war. Lincoln was kind, compassionate and moral. He gave up his plan for gradual compensated emancipation for slaves and plans to send African-American colonists abroad to live free of the taint of blatant racism and slavery. Carwardine opines that Lincoln grew stronger in his advocacy for full citizenship for African Americans as he made of the Civil War a moral crusade for freedom. Lincoln, says Carwardine, received support from Protestant evangelicals, the new Republican party and friendly editors in the press. (Lincoln was also reviled by Democrats and unfriendly newspaper editors). He was a strong president who would suspend habeas corpus and go to the limit of presidential power to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and preserve the United States.
   This is the best book on Lincoln by an Englishman since the early twentieth century biography by Lord Charnwood. The book deals with Lincoln's moral development and evinces his sharp political skills. Lincoln, like the great politician he was, knew how to read the mind of the public in his effort to win rights for African-Americans and keep the quarreling north together and patriotic in winning the Civil War.
   I found the book to be similar to the fine two volume work on Lincoln recently published by William Miller. Similar in that they focus on the mind of Lincoln and the major themes running throughout his career. Those two major themes were Union and the abolition of chattel slavery. Carwardine writes in a scholarly but comprehensible style. His book is worthy of your time and effort in perusing its wise pages. One longs for a man or woman of Lincoln's stature in today's world!

5 comments about Jackie Robinson: A Biography.

1. i'm not particularly interested in baseball, but i am particularly interested in American history from the human perspective. i could have read a much more dry account of the turmoils that dominated American race relations throughout the middle of the 20th century, but instead i've read this fascinating account of those terrible, backward days from the perspective of a true pioneer, Mr. Jackie Robinson.

   of course he is looked back on now as a symbol, a mythological figure. i always knew peripherally of Jackie as the same thing most people do: the first black man to play major league baseball, a step forward & up in the painful struggle of the times. but this book presents him as a human being, a fallible man who lived most of his life not on the baseball field, but in a relentless pursuit of his ideals and desire for a better life for himself and everyone around him.

   the reviewer before me questions the biographer's lack of judgement of Robinson. i am curious as to why he feels Rampersad should insert his own analysis; the biography presents analyses of Robinson by many of Robinson's contemporaries, and then presents the recorded facts available to clarify incidents & statements. yes, this is an intensely personal biography, perhaps too personal in places. it is very much centered on Jackie's private correspondences. it is absolutely told from Robinson's persepctive, as best can be reconstructed from his widow Rachel & the papers he left behind, but it feels very honest, not at all like an airbrushed bit of hero-polishing. it is in places very blunt about Jackie's shortcomings as observed by his peers & contemporaries.

   before i stretch this out any longer, i'll just say that this is the most engrossing biography i can ever recall having read. it's an account of a fascinating life in an amazingly recent time, in an America that seems so long ago but is still discouragingly recent. readers will learn not just about Jackie Robinson, but about two American eras as well.




2. This biography does an outstanding job of giving an overview of Robinson's life and times, from his early, awnry but talented years in Pasadena, through UCLA, then the military, and then the Brooklyn Dodgers and beyond. It paints a picture of a strong willed gentleman with enormous pride, dedicated to his family, and dedicated to the idea of racial integration and equality. The influences of his mother on his early, somewhat (understandably) confrontational character, that allowed him to ultimately be the individual who paired with Branch Rickey to integrate "America's Pastime" are clearly laid out.

   Some reviewers have faulted the author for not being more interpretive of Robinson's politics - specifically, that he was a Nixon supporter in 1960 and a Rockefeller supporter in 1968 (while also being a strong supporter of Civil Rights, active in almost every civil rights organization) and Humphrey supporter as well. I think the book lays out all the facts for the reader to see for themselves. Robinson's coming of age - in an era when a Dixiecrat from a Jim Crow state (LBJ) led the passage of the Civil Rights Act - was a time of a shifting political landscape that didn't settle out until near his death (he also broke badly with Nixon later in Nixon's career). The Republican party's mantra of self-reliance, and Robinson's determination to succeed in business in the same way he did in sports, made his attraction to the party not a big leap; the alienation of this country's African American establishment from big business was not a pre-ordained fact in the time Robinson lived.

   Finally, Robinson's own family struggles were also a reflection of the confusing and troubling times in which he lived.

   Robinson died too young for us all. This is a great book and I would highly recommend it..




3. I really liked this book and normally I dont like reading. Ijust wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. I think Jackie Robinson is a vary good romodel because no matter what, you should never give up. Because Jackie never gave up he ended up being one of the best baseball players to ever play the game. But most of all he broke the color code for all professional sports.



4. It was a year of Fire and also the year of Grace for Jackie Robinson!! It is an amazing book to read about a great person who changed history and loves baseball!! It is more than just baseball and it has so many things to show that shaped Jackie's life so much. It is also spiritual and emotional book that leaves you to become a stronger person to make a great difference in the world.



5. After reading several excellent reviews of this book, I purchased it for
   my nepbew's birthday. I have not read the book myself since I lived through that period.