No comments about William and Henry Walters, the Reticent Collectors.

4 comments about Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865.

1. I found the book an easy read. It was informative to find out the day to day life of an average soldier in the Confederacy during the last part of the Civil War. In many ways though I wish the author would have been more specific with details, but I had to remember of the time (1882) in which he wrote. He was really a product of the time, the flowery language shows and I accept this. Still some of the descriptions seemed intentionally vague, as if he was scared at offending some one, or worse yet stirring up old emotions. I would however, recommend it to a person studying the day to day life of a soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia.



2. Nicely paced, reader-friendly account of the "minutiae" involved in the life of a Confederate soldier - more specifically, as a member of the Army of Northern Virginia. Along with Billings' Northern perspective as seen in Hardtack and Coffee, these two books tell just about all the "ins and outs" of the tedium and horror of war.



3. A quick, really great read on the everyday life of the Confederate soldier in the War for Southern Independence. The Whats, Whens, Hows, and Whys of the survival of the common man in the Army of Northern Virginia told in a very readable manner. Anyone interested in "the War" shouldn't go without reading this one! Too bad there isn't a hardback!



4. Worth the time and the money (affordable price) to read about some of the everyday life of a regular Confederate soldier. It's a fairly quick read, and quite interesting.

No comments about Samuel Adams: A Life.

No comments about Stephen Dodson Ramseur: Lee's Gallant General.

No comments about Semmes: Rebel Raider (Military Profiles).

No comments about At Lincoln's Side: John Hay's Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings.

3 comments about May I Quote You, General Lee: Observations and Utterances of the South's Great Generals (May I Quote You--?,).

1. Good but this book has been done many times, just not in one volume.



2. You'll love this book. It has some of Lee's most famous quotes, as well as some obscure ones.

   Lee has many quotes of wisdom as well. This is entirely quotes, not a story.

   I bought two copies, one for me, and one for a gift.




3. If you are looking for a reference book on quotes from past leaders or if you just need inspiration from these leaders, this is the book for you. My husband is in the military and he uses examples from this book frequently, along with a lesson in history that corresponds and I also have given a copy of this book to my father-in-law. He is a civil war buff and he loved my husband's book. I highly recommend this book to historians, students and people who are just interested in the civil war and the heroes of the south.

5 comments about The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy: The Death of Stonewall Jackson and Other Chapters on the Army of Northern Virginia.

1. Although this book has a number of good points, like the section on Jackson, this is really just another rant about Longstreet by the king of the anti-Longstreet cabal. Robert Krick is an excellent writer, but he has over the years unjustly presented Longstreet as the "loose cannon" of the South. Krick has made a living preaching the gospel of Longstreet . . . a severely flawed man with and equaly flawed ego, and he probably thinks it's too late to back down now. In spite of the multitude of new books and new evidence establishing Longstreet as one of the best generals in the Southern states during the Civil War, Krick continues his uneven and vitrolic diatribe about one of the South's greatest generals. He's like the energizer bunny . . . he just keeps on and on . . . repeating variations of the lies established so long ago by the Lee Cult conspirators. He doesn't seem to be able to write anything without trying to put the boot to Longstreet. I guess Lee, Johnston, Grant, and a host of others got it all wrong about Longstreet being a "capital soldier". Robert Krick is one of a group of rapidly shrinking notable historians who---dispite the evidence---have blindly painted themselves into a niffty little historical "catch-22". They're d***d if they say they had it all wrong... and they'll be d***d if they don't. But, since they've made a long living bashing Longstreet, don't expect any sudden confessions. Too bad though. What a waste. He's a great writer.
   Metaphorically speaking, Krick and other historians of similiar ilk, are "cherry pickers". They use individual cases or data that seem to confirm their position, while ignoring a significant number of related cases or data that contradict that position. They belong to a class of anti-apologists or a "cabal" whose common goal is to bash Longstreet as often and as hard as they can.
   A true historian is a neutral one. He presents the facts in an unbiased manner. He doesn't deal in half-truths---statements that may be partly true or even totally true, but represent only part of the whole truth. The intent of the these "anti-apologists" is to blame, not educate. It's to entertain, not illuminate. Having said all this, I will leave you with the following quote by one of the greatest historians of all time.
   
   "It is the first and fundamental law of history
   that it should neither dare to say anything that is false,
   nor fear to say anything that is true, nor give any just
   suspicion of favor or dissatisfaction."
   
   Cicero



2. Award-winning author Robert Krick has written a number of well-received books on the Civil War. Civil War enthusiasts should enjoy this collection of 10 Krick essays published by the Lousiana State University Press.
   
   By and large, the essays deal with various aspects of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The opening essay is an exhaustive account of Stonewall Jackson's wounding and death. Wonderfully researched and well written, it's a marvelous opener to the book. Other essays deal with the ever-controversial James Longstreet, the death of General Robert Rodes, the fiery secessionist General Maxcy Gregg, Jubal Early's cavalry troubles in 1864, good & bad books on the Confederacy, locating & using Confederate army records, etc.
   
   I enjoyed Krick's book tremendously. His essays are interesting, informative, and thought-provoking. Civil War enthusiasts will want to pick up this book. It provides not only interesting reading but much food for thought not to mention heated arguments over how good or bad certain Civil War generals really were!



3. Well, I myself couldn't quite understand what the previous reviewer was even saying, but I found this book to be rather good.
   
   Obviously, some of the more interesting essays are those about Longstreet. The one conserning Knoxville I don't think is really all that controversial, because most Longstreet apologist books cover the total bungle in a few sentences or find some amusing way of justifying the monumental failure it was. (supplies! Ha!)
   
   To get to the most controversial essay, about Getysberg. Well, I personally didn't see anything particularly glaringly wrong about it. I know enough to know that the author isn't merely making stuff up, Krick is not some amatuer historian, and most of his statements ring fairly true. I'm not really sure what the previous reviewer was trying to say about the third day, the writing was a little incomprehensible, but I have seen some recent research suggesting that Longstreet's real failure came on the evening of the second day into the third. (a not from some Lee glorifier)
   
   I can't say that I remember anyone being written off as a Longstreet apologist, but whatever fits, eh? And to point out something the previous reviewer failed to notice, Krick uses some statments from soldiers who had no real axe to grind, such as Wilcox, who critisized the general in private letters, with no hidden agenda. Krick points out he had NO hidden agenda, because he wrote very little and what Krick took were from private letters! Perhaps the most amusing statement from previous reviews is that Krick's sources have been debunked as pre-meditated smear--yeah, by Longstreet apologists no doubt, whose list of great generals begins with Longstreet. After all, there is at the very least one that is no pre-meditated smear--it was private correspondance! For pete's sake, let's be rational human beings here. And don't go jumping on me as some sort of Lost Cause Lee glorifier, because I think Longstreet was a better general than Lee--but that does not make him god almighty, the all great, all powerful military genius. He most certaily was not.
   
   And another thing to keep in mind when evaluating some of these statements. There is good reason not to take Longstreet at his word, because he simply was a notorious blame-shifter. After totally bungling the battle of Seven Pines (and I mean total), he proceeded to place the blame on others, actually emerging with a better reputation, when his actions should have gotten him removed from command. (As pointed out by Stephen W. Sears, a very level-headed historian. Perhaps some of the critisizers of Longstreet have hidden agendas--but so does the man himself. I'd say Longstreet is probably just as guilty of any pre-meditated smear as any of those evil Longstreet bashers and Lost Causers. I am not interested in either, really, but Longstreet simply does not hold up under scrutiny. And really, a cool look at the facts do not make him to be totally incompetant, but hardly what he and others claim he was. He was, really, basically mediocre, and Krick does a good job of showing why. The essay is certainly not favorable to Longstreet, but to write it off simply because of that,(and when you get down to it, there's really no other rational reason--complain all you want about smear-sources, that doesn't make it a valid complaint. Both sides here are way too polarized to really be able to say such a thing) well, it makes little sense. I guess maybe you could read it with some work polarized in the other direction. Although in reality most of them are really the poorly researched histories showing only one side. It just happens to be the other and is therefore good.
   
   Personally, I don't care about Lee's memory, because he is remember in exponentially better than he deserves, but that doesn't make Krick wrong about Longstreet.
   
   Anyway, overall the book is really quite good. And to call Krick "no historian"...just laughable!



4. This book is hardly well researched and anyone with any common sense should be able to tell .For he uses the well used ploy of ignoring what doesn't fit his rather (warped point of view) but using what dose. (Pure propaganda, in this case of the lost cause and to use one of the scribblers own words APPOLOGIST). Just one example is on page 76/77 where he wrights, Longstreet's Demeanor on July 3 affecting the major assault on that day is another subject and BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS ESSAY!!, Why could that be because you would be forced to write something positive about longstreet because he was clearly correct about That stupid assault on July 3. But I find it amusing that many things that happened well before and after dose have somehow have scope, an example of one is Longstreet in the wilderness in 1864 (page 80/81). Quite simply this is just a verbal assault.
   
   A second point is that whenever he includes a positive statement made by a person that was there he is instantly a Longstreet apologist. But he willing uses many GEN McLaws statements as gospel to back up his theory without any scrutiny at all; When McLaws clearly had an agenda in anything he said about longstreet.
   
   This man is no historian and you should not waste your money on it.



5. I am dumbfounded that anyone exists that believes these essays are well-researched and informative. The sources that Mr. Krick uses to found his impression of General Longstreet have been proven to be absolutely false and a premeditated smear campaign to ruin the man who was Second-in-Command of the Army of Northern Virginia and RANKED Gen. Jackson. Pure Lost Cause mythology. I can't imagine what would possess a man to slander a person he never met so badly. Very unprofessional and disrespectful to Robert E. Lee's memory too. Readers: do not waste your money on this. It is BADLY researched and unsubstanciated nonsense.

3 comments about Hell's Broke Loose In Georgia: Survival In A Civil War Regiment.

1. I first want to say that I have just within the last ten minutes finished this book and I wanted my fresh impressions put to print, here goes...
   
   "Hell's Broke Loose in Georgia Survival in a Civil War Regiment" by Scott Walker, 2005, University of Georgia Press. 310 pages, illustrated, maps and pictures.
   
   I am proud and happy to have a signed hardback copy of this work. It could be best described by the author by how much he felt about the men he was writing about when he wrote on the last page "I promised myself that I would place a copy of this book in a small wooden box and bury it at the foot of Robert Braswell's grave [Private, 57th GA, CSA]. In so doing, I simply want to say that his great-great-grandson has not forgotten the sacifice that he made to help the United States evolve into a great and wonderful nation. And I will wrap the wooden box in an American flag with fifty stars, a symbol of that new nation."
   
   "Interest"
   
   This is a history of the 57th Ga. told through letters and diaries and a detailed and researched history carefully worded and structured to keep the reader very interested. It was slow reading at first until about page 70 with the start of the Battle of Baker's Creek (Champion's Hill). The following is a list of the war's events that impressed me with it's detail and coverage of military actions.
   
   Kentucky Campaign
   Battle of Champion's Hill*
   Battle of Vicksburg
   Atlanta Campaign
   Battle of Peachtree Creek*
   Battle of Atlanta
   Battle of Jonesboro*
   Hood's Tennessee Campaign
   Hood's Retreat from Tennessee*
   Battle of Bentonville*
   
   *These had great interest to me in enlightning me on events new or enhanced information.
   
   "Negatives"
   
   Slow. The book didn't seem to be all that different or exciting than any other Civil War history you would find in magazines or reference material for the first one third of the book. The only real mistake I found was several references to Enterprise, Alabama as the rendevous point for paroled Vicksburg Confederates. My experience has taught me it was Enterprise, Mississippi.
   
   "Positives"
   
   Once you get past the "slow" parts it picks up momentum like Sherman through Georgia. My favorite parts being Chapter #19 Kennesaw Mountain through the last Chapter #30 "Coming Home".
   
   "Impression"
   
   I came away from this book with a great appreciation for these men and what they suffered and a new knowledge of military events. There is a couple of pages in the last Chapter dedicated to a post war court trail of an ex-Confederate Irishman and the jury of his peers, men who served with him in the war. It is really interesting to read the actual court transcripts of his speech. Great book.



2. This was an outstanding book on the brave soldiers from the 57th GA regiment. It was really hard to put it down as I found myself getting a real sense of the challenges, these brave Americans endured. If someone wants to get a real feel for what these men went through, here's your chance!



3. My son's got me this book for my birthday knowing I enjoy reading about the Civil War. I could hardly put it down and had it read in less than a week. The author does an amazing job of combining the history of the war with the letters of members of the 57th Georgia Regiment, of which his great great grandfather was a member. The difficulties this group of soldiers faced were much greater than the bullets from the Union. Disentary, illness, improper clothing, and questionable leadership all contributed to their story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the Civil War.

No comments about Mark Twain (Obras selectas series).