A classic examination of leadership, strategy, and decision making. I have always preferred key judgements over the executive summary style. While not exactly what you are presenting here, your key insights format provides the reader with a quick, but clear and thoughtful view into subject. Well done.
An excellent review of one of the finest warfare novels ever written. It should inspire any American to want to learn more about the battle, as well as to visit the battlefield. Frankly, it is one of the places that every American should visit if given the opportunity....to learn about the sacrifices that their ancestors endured!!!
I studied civil war history at Florida State University with the author's son. Who became a renowned author in his own right!!!
Thank you, Sir! We appreciate your comments and agree with your thoughts on learning about the Civil War and the Battle Gettysburg. As statues are removed, highways and military bases are renamed, the lessons learned from this war will continue to fade. So books and battlefields grow in importance. We don't need sequel.
This was a foundational book for me relatively early in my career. My academic specialties in military history were World War I navies and World War II navies and Eastern Front land combat. My boss on the II Marine Expeditionary Force staff in 1988, Colonel Klaus Schreiber, asked me what I'd read about the Civil War. "Nothing," I replied, "I'm just not curious about hillbilly wars." He smiled and assigned me this book and said we'd talk about it in a month. I was done in just a few days as I was hooked early in the narrative. My Civil War history collection is now the largest portion of my personal military library, and I never tire of reading new books on campaigns, battles, leaders, and the experience of the soldiery on both sides. As an avid board wargamer, I also have played a dozen titles on this particular engagement; my opponents and I often recalled portions of the book as we played.
While more recent scholarship brings some of the narrative's interpretations into question, this doesn't detract from the value of the book in breathing life into popular accounts of The Battle of Gettysburg. I follow Colonel Scheiber's example in recommending this book for those with a germinating interest in the war and the battle.
Thanks, Eric. As you can see it is one of my favorites as well. I'm still a Civil War amateur with interests that pull me towards more recent conflicts, but books on the Civil War can draw me in especially living near Fredericksburg with so much of that history in my backyard.
As we mentioned in our first post "The abundance of new books is both a gift and a challenge. On one hand, an endless supply of knowledge, stories, and ideas is waiting to be explored. On the other, there’s the reality that no matter how much you read, there will always be more great books left untouched."
That's why it's so important, and difficult, to pick your next read wisely.
A classic examination of leadership, strategy, and decision making. I have always preferred key judgements over the executive summary style. While not exactly what you are presenting here, your key insights format provides the reader with a quick, but clear and thoughtful view into subject. Well done.
Thanks, James. We added the 'Key Insights' section after we released the post. Another reader recommended it for longer posts.
An excellent review of one of the finest warfare novels ever written. It should inspire any American to want to learn more about the battle, as well as to visit the battlefield. Frankly, it is one of the places that every American should visit if given the opportunity....to learn about the sacrifices that their ancestors endured!!!
I studied civil war history at Florida State University with the author's son. Who became a renowned author in his own right!!!
Thank you, Sir! We appreciate your comments and agree with your thoughts on learning about the Civil War and the Battle Gettysburg. As statues are removed, highways and military bases are renamed, the lessons learned from this war will continue to fade. So books and battlefields grow in importance. We don't need sequel.
This was a foundational book for me relatively early in my career. My academic specialties in military history were World War I navies and World War II navies and Eastern Front land combat. My boss on the II Marine Expeditionary Force staff in 1988, Colonel Klaus Schreiber, asked me what I'd read about the Civil War. "Nothing," I replied, "I'm just not curious about hillbilly wars." He smiled and assigned me this book and said we'd talk about it in a month. I was done in just a few days as I was hooked early in the narrative. My Civil War history collection is now the largest portion of my personal military library, and I never tire of reading new books on campaigns, battles, leaders, and the experience of the soldiery on both sides. As an avid board wargamer, I also have played a dozen titles on this particular engagement; my opponents and I often recalled portions of the book as we played.
While more recent scholarship brings some of the narrative's interpretations into question, this doesn't detract from the value of the book in breathing life into popular accounts of The Battle of Gettysburg. I follow Colonel Scheiber's example in recommending this book for those with a germinating interest in the war and the battle.
Thanks for this fresh review on an old favorite!
Thanks, Eric. As you can see it is one of my favorites as well. I'm still a Civil War amateur with interests that pull me towards more recent conflicts, but books on the Civil War can draw me in especially living near Fredericksburg with so much of that history in my backyard.
As we mentioned in our first post "The abundance of new books is both a gift and a challenge. On one hand, an endless supply of knowledge, stories, and ideas is waiting to be explored. On the other, there’s the reality that no matter how much you read, there will always be more great books left untouched."
That's why it's so important, and difficult, to pick your next read wisely.