Gettysburg

De: Stephen W. Sears

Narrado por: Jaime Renell

The greatest of all Civil War campaigns, Gettysburg was the turning point of the turning point in our nation’s history. Volumes have been written about this momentous three-day battle, but recent histories have tended to focus on the particulars rather than the big picture: on the generals or on single days of battle—even on single charges—or on the daily lives of the soldiers. In Gettysburg Sears tells the whole story in a single volume. From the first gleam in Lee’s eye to the last Rebel hightailing it back across the Potomac, every moment of the battle is brought to life with the vivid narrative skill and impeccable scholarship that has made Stephen Sears’s other histories so successful. Based on years of research, this is the first book in a generation that brings everything together, sorts it all out, makes informed judgments, and takes stands. Even the most knowledgeable of Civil War buffs will find fascinating new material and new interpretations, and Sears’s famously accessible style will make the book just as appealing to the general audience. In short, this is the one book on Gettysburg that anyone interested in the Civil War should own.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2003 Stephen W. Sears (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Moving and Informative

I listened to this before and after a visit to the site. I went to see where 4 of my ancestors fought, 2 for the North and 2 for the South. The book helped their struggle come to life.

A History of Gettysburg- Details of the choices faced and decisions made by the people who were there.

Liked the revelations of the historical record to correct the false good impressions of Robert E. Lee and equally false bad impressions of George Meade and Old Pete Longstreet.

Very informative

Excellent detailed account of the battle. One of the best accounts I have ever read.

Great book and performance!

This is my third book on Gettysburg and one of the best yet. Very clearly written with the whole picture of what happened explained in sharp detail. I liked the profiling of all the major players and even the rank minor individual with quotes of what was said or reasonable conjecture of what might have been said.

Well researched! Aside from the the story, I loved the performance. I would like to hear more from this reader. Kept my interest throughout the entire book. Well worth 5 stars.

Detail explanation of Historical events

One of the best books on a pivotal historical event in the life of this great nation.

Detailed Account of Devasting Battle for the Confederacy

I appreciated the detailed accounts of the battle from both Union and Conferate perspective. Descriptive roles officers played. Perspective on the successful and error filled decisions made during the 3 day event.

Great Read

Didn’t know much but the overall story of Gettysburg and this book filled in so much. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it has a lot of great information. I would recommend it to anyone trying to get a good, full, and thorough understanding of what happened.

a definitive work

While there have been endless books written about the battle of Gettysburg I feel compelled to nit just recommend this one but compare it with another one I had read months earlier, "Gettysburg: The Last Invasion" by Allen C Guelzo.


While there's a lot of overlap, the differing styles of the author and the top notch literary work makes these two great complements to each other.


While Guelzo's work is excruciatingly detailed on virtually every single scrap of ground and minute of time, often opting for an "on the ground" perspective frequently, Sears stays focused very sharply on the strategic perspective of the battle. Rather than report the facts, he makes heavy use of all the information written to interpret events, oftentimes ranging into the realm of alternate history (If Lee had done etc, If Ewell had taken that hill), but more importantly keeping us at a level where we get the feelings and sentiments of the top generals and the entire armies as a whole.


The amount of information I took in from Guelzo's work felt so overwhelming as to be definitive, yet Sears manages to include even more , covering many things, events, and circumstances that were either overlooked or briefly touched upon by Guelzo.


Another thing Sears offers which Guelzo does not is creating theories (supported as much as possible by the historical record) as to how events unfolded or why they went the way they did. One rumor I had heard years ago was that the Confederate artillery barrage before Pickett's Charge was a failure because Confederate artillery rounds were faulty and tended to overshoot. Since I wasn't able to find much information on this (and Guelzo does not even mention it), I figured it was a post-war "Lost Cause" excuse made for Lee's failure.


Here Sears not only mentions it but supports it with direct observations from individuals on the field, including Union generals who saw their men clustering close to their front line barricades, knowing that Confederate rounds typically overshot. Not only that but Sears goes into detail of what exactly this meant for the guns , and makes sure to specify that this alone was not any major factor in the failed charge.


Instead Sears heavily emphasizes the role played by general Henry Hunt, expanding even more than Guelzo does on Hunt's role not only in foreseeing the likelihood of a Confederate artillery barrage but on the need to use subterfuge and to resist returning fire in order to deceive the rebel gunners into thinking they were successfully destroying Union artillery.


A lot more focus is placed on the moods, attitudes, and expectations of the generals which can seemingly come across as telling history exclusively from the point of view of the most powerful and influential rather than the common man, much of the actions that took place at Gettysburg are impossible to justify or explain without getting deeper into the mindsets of the people at the absolute top.


My only minor criticism is that this book only covers the battle itself and the subsequent two weeks until the Army of Northern Virginia escapes over the Potomac, along with a very brief passage about the Gettysburg Address, whilst Guelzo devotes some of his epilogue to more historiography of the battle, how it was and is perceived in the popular conscious , and even name drops fictional depictions such as the 1993 movie "Gettysburg". Aside from a brief few mentions of veterans meeting years after on the battlefield, Sears largely sticks to 1863 for most of his book.

A Fresh Analysis of The Most Examined Battle in US History

I would not have believed there was anything new to be told about this battle. But this analysis is engagingly written and read. Keep me listening for longer stretches of time time than I would have expected.

A Comprehensive Summary of Every Aspect

clearly an extensive review of the battle largely from letters of the principles going deeply into their motivation & reflections.
Well written!