1 comments about Confederate General R.S. Ewell: Robert E. Lee's Hesitant Commander.

1. The amount of time and research that went into this book is hard to fathom as archives from many parts of the South have been scoured for material. Paul Casdorph would in fact be the perfect choice to teach graduate research seminars because he is so adept in this area. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the best researchers are not always the best writers. There is much information and insight into the life of General Richard Ewell to be found in this book but sometimes it is very hard to extract.
   
   The author's thesis is that General Ewell just didn't have the personality to be an aggressive field commander and that may well have been the case but this often contradictory book falls far short of proving that point. The cases where Ewell was aggressive are hardly noted although they did exist and actually Ewell was sometimes more apt to attack than Stonewall Jackson. It is a comparison with Jackson that in fact makes up most of the author's argument. Again however incidents that contradict the author's theory are just brushed aside. For example, Jackson's extreme lethargy during the Seven Days battles is hardly dealt with at all.
   
   Ewell's poor performance at Gettysburg seems to be the cornerstone of Casdorph's argument but alas it is also the weakest part of his argument. The reader is hit constantly with what Jackson might have done at Gettysburg, which is something we will never know. He might well have leaned up against a tree and took another nap. The author also brings up the old canard about Longstreet's late attack on July 2nd. I would be willing to bet that the author couldn't take a comparable number of men and make it from where Longstreet's men were at 11:00 PM on July 1st to where the attack is supposed to have come from in less than seven hours either. It would be especially unlikely with a guide that ended up costing Longstreet several hours.
   
   Another problem rests with the writing style the author employs. There were places in this book that left me feeling as if I was trudging through knee deep mud. The writing does improve as the book goes along but there are places that are just mercilessly dull. He also misspells General Cleburne's name, which is a mistake that one shouldn't find in this type of scholarly work.
   
   Still, Casdorph does make one very clear and astute point. Robert E. Lee had a blind spot for Virginia and Virginians and that seems to be the only real reason Ewell ever rose to corps command. Although there is no clear argument made in this text as to who might have been a better choice.
   
   Overall the writing and thesis of this book are weak at best but there is still a lot of information to be found here. The author has presented several important facts and one can learn quite a bit about General Ewell and the Army of Northern Virginia in this book. If Mr. Casdorph was willing to do all of this research the least the reader can do is pick through the dull areas in order to access the information.

No comments about Ernst Rohm: Hitler's SA Chief of Staff.

No comments about World Turned Upside Down: U. S. Naval Intelligence and the Cold War Struggle for Germany.

5 comments about Spandau: The Secret Diaries.

1. That which was good (Inside the Third Reich) is now even better for "Spandau" is Speer's soul-searching account of and reflection on himself and his life while he was imprisoned for 21 years. The book was written in a day-by-day diary entry form so one almost feels one is there with him sharing his emotions and observations. He made it quite clear from the very outset that writing kept him sane but ".. it must be more than a matter of organizing sheer survival. This must also become a time of reckoning. If at the end, after these twenty years, I do not have an answer to the questions that preoccupy me now, this imprisonment will have been wasted for me. And yet I fully realize that even at best my conclusions can only be tentative..." Upon his release in 1966, he left the mass of papers of his prison diaries lay untouched, unread for over ten years before he finally published them. Apart from the historical importance, readers will enjoy the writing of a fine intellectual mind despite his sad observation that "Diaries are usually the accompaniment of a lived life. This one stands in place of a life." This is an immensely personal and moving book that no one could afford to miss and deserves much more than a running commentary.



2. First hand accounts of the workings of the German High Command and the interactions between the parties, including Adolph Hitler, are rare and becoming rarer. Many of those involve left memoirs, but those are becoming difficult to find, as most are now out of print. Speer's Spandau writings are among the endangered species.

   Anyone who wishes to understand the minds of the men who made the Reich work and particularly the mind of Adolph Hitler can do so by the evidence of their deeds at one level. However, the records of their thoughts, conversations, behavior and rationalizations while they did so is certainly a facet of understanding. The writings of Von Manstein, Doenitz, Rommel, Guderian, and the diaries of Joseph Goebbels are each worth the reading in this sense. As is Albert Speer.

   Speer was imprisoned longer than any of the other members of Hitler's inner circle. He had many years of solitude to contemplate his deeds and reflect on how and why he came to be imprisoned in Spandau. Maybe these musings qualify as revisionist history. Maybe they're merely self-serving rationalizations. But his anecdotes will definitely add to your understanding of the 3rd Reich. You don't have to believe everything he says, but it's worth reading it and making the choice for yourself.

   Speer thought of himself as a 'nice guy'. You can't make an informed decision as to whether it was true without reading what he had to say. In the end most of us believe we are 'nice people' and are justified in whatever horrendous deeds we pursue.




3. What a good story. I couldn't put the book down. I recommend that you read a book on the Nuremberg trials (Persico's is a good one) before plunging into Speer's diary. Speer wrote his diary while paying his 20 years sentence at Spandau prison for his responsibility as one of the leaders of the Thirch Reich.



4. No figure emerged from the Second World War with greater controversy and attention than did Nazi architect and Hitler confidant Albert Speer. Sentenced to twenty years in the military prison in Spandau for war crimes, Speer was the only one of the principals tried at Nuremberg to admit his culpability in the horror that was the Third Reich. Many questioned his sincerity, for although he said all the right things, it was extremely self-serving to do so at the moment of final judgment, for his capitulation surely saved his life. Yet Speer served his twenty years and then was released to live out his life amidst even greater controversy, for Speer had compiled an amazing 25,000 page secret diary during his long confinement.

   This treasure trove of personal anecdotes, reminiscences, and observations was eventually serialized into two distinctive books. When the first was published in 1969 in Germany, the diary, entitled "Recollections", caused a literal firestorm of controversy based on a range of observations and positions taken by Speer. Yet the book, released a year later in a translated version for the English-speaking world as "Inside The Third Reich" was a runaway best seller based primarily on the detailed and absolutely spellbinding descriptions Speer offered regarding the principals of the Nazi regime. Shortly thereafter, Speer released the present volume, entitled "Spandau; The Secret Diaries". His observations, tidbits, and anecdotes about Hitler himself were endlessly fascinating and occasioned a lot of dinner conversation all over the world. Likewise, his portrayal of the day to day life within the so-called Nazi elite gave reader s a graphic and telling account of what these people were like, and how it was possible that they could do so much of what they did.

   It also establishes a consistent pattern of personal denial of any real responsibility for what had happened on Speer's part. He claimed to have been only tangentially involved in what happened to the Jews, and that he never understood that the policy of deportation and relocation to 'work camps' was part of a conspiracy to systematically murder all of Europe's Jews. Yet careful readers find that his role as Chief Administrator Of Armament Production, which employed slave labor by both Jews and other subjugated prisoners of war certainly had a systematic policy of working these slave laborers to death.

   In later works he claimed to be less involved in the politics of the Third Reich than in the day to oversight of functional management of its policies. This is a fascinating book, and one cannot help but to come to admire this man and his struggles to maintain his balance and his sanity during the two decades he was held at Spandau. It provides a penetrating look both at his own mental processes as well as sharing his ruminations about various details and aspects of life within the whirlwind of excitement, agony, and horror that the years of Nazi reign in Germany represent. This is a book I can highly recommend. Enjoy!




5. Albert Speer give a day to day account of what it is like in Spandau. The diaries are divided daily so you soon feel that you are there. You soon feel that his memories are yours and wonder what you would have done. Sure you know now, but wait until you read this book. There are 32 pages of exclusive photos. It is weird win you think what you or a relative was doing on the same days. Albert got out just one month before I went in to the military. Even his epilog is impressive.

No comments about Six Wives of Henry the VIII (Windsor Selections).

No comments about John Wesley (Ambassador Classic Biography Series).

2 comments about Davy Crockett's Own Story: The Autobiography of America's Great Folk Hero (Legends of the West).

1. A great read, full of Crocketism that I grew up with. Someone should make a proper movie of this book, similar to Last of the Mohicans, with a bit of grunt Disney might have got it right. Maybe Kevin Costner could change his Lincoln Green outfit to Buckskins and give it a go!



2. A great personal record of historical events in the early 1800's. Colorful language and a first hand look at such timely subjects as politics, politicians, women in the work place, Indians, war, and freedom; before the revisionists have a chance to make history politically correct.

3 comments about Life- Changing Events often Put Lives On Hold.

1. I met Jerry at work a few years ago and instantly knew he was a kind and honorable man. In his own small way he helped me through what I thought was a most terrible time in my life (my daughter moving to another state). He said someday he would share a part of his life with me that may be helpful. Well Jerry left that job after a brief time and I never got a chance to hear much about his life. A few years later I came to know that he had written this book. I now know that life had given Jerry a lot to bear, but instead of bitterness, he always had a smile and a kind word each day. Had I known he was a veteran, I would have thanked him for his service. But not only was Jerry gentle, but he was humble as well. I haven't seen Jerry in quite a while, but I won't forget him and hope that he is peaceful in his life as he and his comrades deserve everything wonderful that life has to offer. Thanks to all the men and women who served or are serving our country now. We owe you a debt of gratitude. (Jack)



2. I served with Sgt. Rohr in 1st Squad 1st Platoon B Company 2/5 Cav. The story of Dennis Wirt is one that has stuck with me for almost 40 years now. He was in our squad and was killed in a plane crash going on R&R to see his girl friend Nikki. We all knew of his death immediately and wondered how and when Nikki found out what happened after he did not walk off his plane to meet her on Okinawa. I think about him and this incident often. In the book, Jerry actually contacts Dennis' mother and I learned what happened to Nikki. I also learned that Dennis' mother wondered why she did not hear from Dennis's friends after his death. I wish now I had done what Jerry did. Maybe there is still time. So many lives are connected in so many ways.
   
   Jerry links life's events together in spiritual ways, but life is spiritual if we are lucky enough to experience it deeply. I am biased, of course, but I think this is an amazing and emotional book. Thanks, Jerry. I hope to see you and the others at your next reunion, 40 years is too long. I will give this book to my two sons.



3. This book should appeal to both men and women. Anyone who has loved ones in the service,the Viet Nam War, or any war will relate to the emotional hurt that these men went through. His war experience while serving in the Army shows what hardships they had to endure. By looking for answers to Jerry and Laura's personal tragedy Jerry found a way to deal with his own grief by reaching out to others. Jerry was able to express his own feelings throughout the story and you find yourself grieving with him and his young family and also for his Army buddies.

No comments about Margaret Junkin Preston, Poet of the Confederacy: A Literary Life.

No comments about Journal of a Georgia Woman, 1870-1872.