Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage by Noah Andre Trudeau ISBN: 0-06-019363-8 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 18 June, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.32 (44 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Brilliant narrative of the 3 days at Gettysburg...
Comment: Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage is a "tour de force" of Civil War history...at once powerful in it's narrative comprehensiveness while maintaining an incredibly sublime human tone that should make this the apex of Noah Trudeau's Civil War accounts. Compulsively readable and extensively researched, Trudeau has conveyed an incredibly complex battle into a magnificent one-volume account that could eclipse most of the almost overwhelming inventory of contemporary Gettysburg histories.
This book begins with the disarrayed Union forces under "Fighting" Joe Hooker again encamped north of Fredericksburg following their critical loss at Chancellorsville. Conversely, Lee's Confederate forces are primed to invade the North again (fully recovering from the incredible standoff at Antietam) and Trudeau offers an extremely plausible explanation of Lee's rationale for the invasion and his almost desperate requests for additional troops (incredibly denied by Jefferson Davis as too costly to Richmond's defense). The bumbling Federal efforts at interpretation of Lee's movements ultimately leads to Hooker's dismissal as commander and implants George Meade (notwithstanding his reluctance to do so) as Lincoln's latest in the ever-growing list of Union commanding generals.
The Confederate invasion is allowed to proceed into Pennsylvania (almost to Harrisburg) before an amazing confluence of circumstances leads both armies to the small hamlet of Gettysburg. Trudeau describes the first day's battle correctly as a partial cavalry and partial infantry engagement, dispelling the age-old myth that Buford's Union cavalry alone interdicted the larger Confederate force. In fact, the strength of this penetrating narrative (in my opinion) is Trudeau's ability to use contemporary research to dispel many of the afore-mentioned Gettysburg myths (the Joshua Chamberlain "closing gate" maneuver at Little Round Top, Lee's reaction to J.E.B. Stuart as he complete's his "flanking" ride around the Union forces, Pickett's 3rd day charge...etc) and telling the un-embellished story.
The 2nd day's carnage is ever present as Trudeau eloquently describes it from both the soldier's viewpoint as well as the local civilian's. As Lee attacks the Union left-flank, the well known battles on the Round Tops, the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard and Devil's Den are covered in comprehensive while at the same time amazingly readable detail. The action on the Union right is not given sort-shrift either as the engagements at Culp's Hill and Cemetary Hill are deftly covered. Trudeau also does not hesitate to indict Lee for his failures at planning and leadership on this day and, to me, this is a refreshing twist missing from many contemporary accounts.
The actions on both the Union and Confederate side leading into the decisive 3rd day's battle cover most of the last quarter of the book and the engagement itself is wonderfully re-counted with "Pickett's Charge" and the action at the Cemetary Ridge "Angle" and "Copse of Tree's" prudently taking "center-stage" as the focal point. Lastly, the final minor skirmishes from both Cavalry forces, the Confederate retreat to Virginia (again brilliantly told from both the civilian and soldier perspective) and an excellent "Judgements" chapter close out the book.
Trudeau's previous contributions to Civil War history pretty much cover the end of the war (from the Overland campaign through Appomattox), but with "Gettysburg", he's truly out-done himself. Passionate, compellingly engaging and expertly judicious (not to mention the many useful and appreciated maps), this account stands as the most definitive one-volume account since Coddington's "Gettysburg: A Study in Command" 35 years ago and is very highly recommended. A "must-read"!!
Rating: 5
Summary: Gettysburg not for the faint of heart
Comment: The battle of Gettysburg is probably better chronicled than any event in American military history, if not the world's. Writers have gotten tired of telling the history of the battle completely, and moved on to write "microhistories" of one part or another of the battle. The present book is billed as the first attempt at a complete detailed history of the battle since Coddington's The Gettysburg Campaign, a wonderful book published, if memory serves correctly, in 1968. Trudeau has a good reputation, and so I was looking forward to this, the first of his books I have read. I wasn't disappointed.
There is a considerable amount of information here, and it's quite well presented. The author writes clearly and concisely, and the action is explained well and is easy (at least for someone who's well-versed in Civil War history) to follow. Some of the other reviews criticize the maps, either for their format or the physical size. What they don't realize is that most publishers would be willing (even eager) to publish a book like this with perhaps three or four maps, thinking that sufficient. There are, instead, a plethora of them here (there's no list, but there must be three dozen) with details of unit positions and directions of movement. A key on the daily comprehensive maps showing which of the smaller ones covered what part of the battlefield might have helped a bit, though I had no problem. Then again, I'm pretty good with maps, and have read a lot on Gettysburg. One annoyance is that the maps are uncredited, which means we can't castigate or praise the cartographer.
The author has a writing style which apparently irritated some people. He writes in short passages, some only a paragraph long, some several pages, and they are arranged chronologically. This means that you read about the action on one flank, then move to the other, then to the middle of the battlefield, then back to where you started, a lot. I suppose if you aren't a Civil War buff, and well-read on the battle already, this could get a bit dizzying. I didn't have any problem, followed it easily, and enjoyed it. I spent the afternoon reading the last 130 pages without a break, enjoyed it, and will now go look up some of the author's other books.
A further thing to note is the author's care in debunking myths, and sorting facts out from the post-war posturing that pollutes so much of what was written about Gettysburg by the participants. The Confederate spy Harrison was apparently named Henry, not James as has been previously written (I just looked at a book where his name is Edward: perhaps we'll never really know). Ewell's decision not to attack Cemetery Hill or Culp's Hill is looked at from a different perspective, and Sickles' advance on the second day is dissected carefully. We learn that the Army of Northern Virginia encountered a considerable amount of sniping when it moved into Pennsylvania, as the Union army did when it campaigned in Virginia, and that they gathered up blacks and shipped them south when they could catch them.
All in all, I would consider this a wonderful book for anyone who's interested in the Civil War. Why a novice would pick up an almost 700 page book on anything is beyond me (referring to one of the other reviewers, complaining that this isn't for novices). If you're not a novice, buy it!
Rating: 4
Summary: A good history of the battle
Comment: I'm still looking for the perfect book on the battle of Gettysburg. This book ranks high on accuracy and detail, but lower on readability. The narrative is choppy, moving quickly but not too smoothly from one area of the battlefield to another. Many maps help the reader but -- although I hate to complain about an author who recognizes the value of maps -- there is a shortage of "big picture" illustrations and narrative. Gettysburg is so important that it deserves a magisterial prose which Trudeau can't summon up.
I applaud Trudeau for his insights that Generals Ewell (Confederate) and Howard (Union) were not as incompetent as often portrayed and Trudeau also leavens a bit the ascendant reputation of Joshua Chamberlain whose Maine troops anchored the vulnerable left flank of the Union army. Trudeau strengthens in my mind the view that this battle was badly mismanaged by Robert E. Lee.
This book doesn't measure up in intensity to Shelby Foote's lengthy description of the battle of Gettysburg in volume two of his monumental work, "The Civil War." It also falls a bit short in quality of Coddington's scholarly study. But Trudeau is well worth reading and his book deserves a prominent place on the bookshelf of literature about Gettysburg.
 |
Title: Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears ISBN: 0395867614 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 24 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
 |
Title: Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg (Crown Journeys) by James M. McPherson ISBN: 0609610236 Publisher: Crown Publishers Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command by Edwin B. Coddington ISBN: 0684845695 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
 |
Title: Gettysburg: The First Day (Civil War America (Hardcover)) by Harry W. Pfanz ISBN: 0807826243 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
 |
Title: Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg by Troy D. Harman ISBN: 0811700542 Publisher: Stackpole Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
