From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of The Civil War in America

By: James Longstreet

Narrated by: Gregg Rizzo

Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the most important Confederate generals of the Civil War was Lieutenant General James Longstreet, the man Robert E. Lee called his “old war horse”. Longstreet was arguably the best corps commander the Confederates have, and he played crucial roles at Antietam, Second Bull Run, Chickamauga, the Wilderness, and Fredericksburg.

However, Longstreet had a controversial role at Gettysburg, when he was unable to roll up the Union Army of the Potomac's flank on Day 2 and Pickett's Charge failed on Day 3. Though Longstreet tried to talk Lee out of the attacks, they went forward, and Longstreet criticized Lee about them afterward, making him reviled among other Confederates. In turn, they tried to blame him for the loss at Gettysburg. Just a few years before his death, Longstreet finally published his crucial memoirs, From Manassas to Appomattox, a Civil War memoirs that talked about his experiences and analysis of the decisions made during the war. Longstreet wrote it to respond to his own critics and because Lee himself didn't write any. Regardless, they are one of the most important post-war writings of any general on either side of the Civil War.

Public Domain (P)2019 Gregg Rizzo

worst narration ever.

The reader was awful. I believe he was thoroughly out of his depth. He pronounces names wrong, places wrong, fortifications and weapons wrong.

He also sounds as though he has a cold through the entire book.

He's incapable of tapping into the drama of the prose. At times it sounds like he just reads each word in a sentence and then edits them together with no sense of flow. It's possible that Longstreet wasn't a great writer and that may have made things difficult but somehow this reader is able to make even the battles of Gettysburg and Chickamauga boring.

A Textbook Presentation

The strength of James Longstreet’s memoirs is that they are a textbook presentation of his perspective of his duties during the Civil War. The weakness is they are a textbook presentation. The narrator speaks in a prosaic monotone. If you’re a Civil War buff, this memoir is for you. If you’re expecting colorful writing and an exciting narration, look elsewhere.

Terrible narrator.

This guy would make the second coming or the Hindenburg crash seem boring. What a shame.

Good insight

I wanted to get into the mind of Longstreet. There's no better way than to listen to his own writings for that. Although it wasn't in depth about him, it was a decent summary of his experiences. He wanted to go on record after being muddied up by others.
The performance, on the other hand, was unbearable. I nearly stopped listening a dozen times. I don't know if out was the reader's issues with enunciation or a horrible recording/editing job. Perhaps a little of both.

Painful

The subject matter is interesting, but it needs to be re-recorded. The narrator constantly mis pronounced people’s names and names of locations and events. For a person who studies the American civil war the is a horrible thing to sit through knowing the correct pronunciation and constantly hearing it incorrectly. If it was purchased directly from the publisher I would request a refund.