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Title: Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman (Library of America) by William Tecumseh Sherman ISBN: 0-940450-65-8 Publisher: Library of America Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.65 (17 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Sherman's own perspective: surprisingly riveting
Comment: William T. Sherman was one of the most fascinating, unique characters of the American Civil War. Explosive, profane and brilliant, he was surprisingly cautious on the battlefield and never incured the casualities of either Lee or Grant. Sherman's strength was in manouvering to avoid combat and he generally succeeded.
So, how does Sherman hold up as a writer? Surprisingly well. Though the book is not as well-written as Ulysses S. Grant's Personal Memoirs, it is still a solid, riveting piece of work. A small criticism is that Sherman included copious amounts of correspondence which are printed in small letters at the bottom of many pages. The correspondence is frquently difficult to decipher and not especially edifying. The acual text, however, is stellar. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book, GREAT PUBLISHING!
Comment: The Library of America edition of Sherman's Memoirs is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. The man had a brilliant mind. He was efficient in all that he put his hand too. And, if he failed in some ways, he cleaned up his messes and went on his way. The war would probably have lasted forever if he hadn't had the foresight, the leadership ability, the stamina, and just plain guts. But he knew how to end the war, and he had no illusions that he was playing at war. He knew it was hell, and he did what he had to do. I loved the dated letters and wires between the various players on the scene. Thank God Sherman saved these written pieces of history for us. If he hadn't, his memoirs would have only been from his point of view. And, when something he's telling us is from his memory only, he states it as such. If you are going to war, it's not a good idea to play at it. Sherman knew that. And biding his time, he was given the chance by U.S. Grant to end this. If he hadn't been elected to take his "show on the road" we would probably be living today in a divided, bickering country, and without the power we enjoy as a nation. And, by the way, Grant was brilliant enough and his ego was intact enough so that he was able to award the job of sweeping up Georgia and the Carolinas to the best man--Sherman.
Regarding the publishing, it's about time I didn't have to crack open the binding to read a book. Because the binding is sewn, it opens flat to any page you choose. The paper is thin to keep the book from being too heavy and large. The paper is also acid free so it will not yellow and become brittle with age. The cloth binding is exquisite--designed and manufactured in Holland; it is Rayon, which probably will last forever. Even the dusk jacket is quality paper. That's how my books were when I was young, and that's why I don't remember ever having to break the binding open in any of my books, no matter how large they were. It's a pleasure to be able to lay on my stomach and read a book without having to hold it in place. If you want to write in your books, buy cheaper versions. Don't complain when you receive a gem.
Rating: 5
Summary: "The Most Magnificent Army in Existence"
Comment: "What Dercyllidas said of the court of Persia may be applied to that of several European princes, that he saw there much splendor but little strength, and many servants but few soldiers." So Adam Smith (although it was not Dercyllidas but Antiochus). In an anecdote, he thereby captures the essence of classic small-r Republicanism: a society of individuals who are fit, self-sufficient -- and armed. It is the model that gives such sentimental appeal to the campaign for the right to bear arms.
Was there ever such a society? Doubtful. But if you wanted to find one, you would have done well to show up on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. a little after 9 a.m. on the morning of the 23d of April, 1865, to review the Army of the West in review formation behind its commander, William Tecumseh Sherman. Here, from his memoirs, is Sherman's own account.
"When I reached the Treasury-building, and looked back, the sight was simply magnificent: The column was compact, and the glittering muskets looked like a solid mass of steel, moving with the regularity of a pendulum. . . . It was, in my judgment, the most magnificent army in existence - sixty-five thousand men, in splendid physique, who had just completed a march of nearly two thousand miles in a hostile country, in good drill, and who realized that they were being closely scrutinized by thousands of their fellow-countrymen and by foreigners. . . . The steadiness and firmness of the tread, the careful dress on the guides, the uniform intervals between the companies, all eyes directly to the front, and the tattered and bullet-riven flags, festooned with flowers, all attracted universal notice. Many good people, up to that time, had looked upon our Western Army as a sort of mob; but the world then saw, and recognized the fact, that it was an army kin the proper sense, well organized, well commanded and disciplined, and there was no wonder that it had swept through the South like a tornado."
Sherman had reason to be proud. One assumes that his name still evokes bitter memories around Atlanta where he tore up and twisted so many miles of rail track. But Sherman was, ironically, the kind of general who is good for victor and vanquished alike. He had the temperament of a fighter, but he knew that the goal of fighting was not to shed blood, but only to win. His campaigns inflicted legendary damage but most of it was swift and highly focused. There was some pillage, but even the pillage seems to have been planned and organized and permitted only to the extent necessary for the campaign. In all the accounts that I have seen, there is little or no talk of rape.
It is a commonplace that good soldiers make bad writers, but the evidence is not so clear. There is a reason why Caesar and Xenophon persist as staples of the classical curriculum. Ulysses Grant, who was said to write military orders so clear that they could not be misunderstood, himself produced a military memoir of great vigor and force. But it is hard to think of anything that will compare with Sherman's own account - particularly his narrative of the long march from Lookout Mountain across George and then up through the Carolinas to the Capital and the end of the war. If there ever was a time to be optimistic about the future of a free citizenry, surely the day of that great parade was the day.
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Title: Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America) by Ulysses S. Grant, Mary Drake McFeeley, William S. McFeeley ISBN: 0940450585 Publisher: Library of America Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Personal Memoirs: Ulysses S. Grant (Modern Library War) by Ulysses S. Grant, Geoffrey Perret ISBN: 0375752285 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant by Ulyssess S. Grant, Ulysses S. Grant ISBN: 0914427679 Publisher: William S. Konecky Associates Pub. Date: 15 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.98 |
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Title: Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain ISBN: 1879664178 Publisher: Stan Clark Military Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1994 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America by James Longstreet ISBN: 0306804646 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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