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General Sherman's 1864 burning of Atlanta solidified his legacy as a ruthless leader. Yet Sherman proved far more complex than his legendary military tactics reveal. James Lee McDonough offers fresh insight into a man tormented by the fear that history would pass him by, who was plagued by personal debts, and who lived much of his life separated from his family.
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
Early in May 1861, 21-year-old Sam R. Watkins of Columbia, Tennessee, joined the First Tennessee Regiment. He fought in all of its major battles, from Shiloh to Nashville. Twenty years later, with a "house full of young 'rebels' clustering around my knees and bumping about my elbows," he wrote the remarkable account of "Co. Aytch," its common foot soldiers, its commanders, its Yankee enemies, its victories and defeats, and its ultimate surrender on April 26, 1865.
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow sows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
General Stonewall Jackson was like no one anyone had ever seen. In April of 1862 he was merely another Confederate general with only a single battle credential in an army fighting in what seemed to be a losing cause. By middle June he had engineered perhaps the greatest military campaign in American history and was one of the most famous men in the Western World. He had given the Confederate cause what it had recently lacked: hope.
In the American Civil War, or the War between the States, three dashing cavalry leaders - Stuart, Forrest, and Mosby - so captured the public imagination that their exploits took on a glamour, which we associate - as did the writers of the time - with the deeds of the Waverley characters and the heroes of chivalry. Of the three leaders, Colonel John S. Mosby (1833 - 1916), was, perhaps, the most romantic figure. In the South, his dashing exploits made him one of the great heroes of the "Lost Cause". In the North, he was painted as the blackest of redoubtable scoundrels.
General Sherman's 1864 burning of Atlanta solidified his legacy as a ruthless leader. Yet Sherman proved far more complex than his legendary military tactics reveal. James Lee McDonough offers fresh insight into a man tormented by the fear that history would pass him by, who was plagued by personal debts, and who lived much of his life separated from his family.
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
Early in May 1861, 21-year-old Sam R. Watkins of Columbia, Tennessee, joined the First Tennessee Regiment. He fought in all of its major battles, from Shiloh to Nashville. Twenty years later, with a "house full of young 'rebels' clustering around my knees and bumping about my elbows," he wrote the remarkable account of "Co. Aytch," its common foot soldiers, its commanders, its Yankee enemies, its victories and defeats, and its ultimate surrender on April 26, 1865.
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow sows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
General Stonewall Jackson was like no one anyone had ever seen. In April of 1862 he was merely another Confederate general with only a single battle credential in an army fighting in what seemed to be a losing cause. By middle June he had engineered perhaps the greatest military campaign in American history and was one of the most famous men in the Western World. He had given the Confederate cause what it had recently lacked: hope.
In the American Civil War, or the War between the States, three dashing cavalry leaders - Stuart, Forrest, and Mosby - so captured the public imagination that their exploits took on a glamour, which we associate - as did the writers of the time - with the deeds of the Waverley characters and the heroes of chivalry. Of the three leaders, Colonel John S. Mosby (1833 - 1916), was, perhaps, the most romantic figure. In the South, his dashing exploits made him one of the great heroes of the "Lost Cause". In the North, he was painted as the blackest of redoubtable scoundrels.
A magnificent history of the opening years of the Civil War by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bruce Catton. The first book in Bruce Catton's Pulitzer Prize-winning Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Mr. Lincoln's Army is a riveting history of the early years of the Civil War, when a fledgling Union Army took its stumbling first steps under the command of the controversial general George McClellan.
Stephen Crane's classic novel gives us a glimpse into the mind of a young soldier as he passes through the experience he will never be able to forget, and possibly awaken him from his slumber in a sweat and panic for years to come.
Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever. But this is one of the clearest and most informative ever put into audio. As a commander in Stonewall Jackson's brigade, John Casler experienced all the horrors and comedy of the American Civil War. His time was not so different from his countrymen on the other side, with the exception of point of view.
A quiet, wealthy plantation owner, Jack Hinson watched the start of the Civil War with disinterest. Opposed to secession and a friend to Union and Confederate commanders alike, he did not want a war. After Union soldiers seized and murdered his sons, placing their decapitated heads on the gateposts of his estate, Hinson could remain indifferent no longer. He commissioned a special rifle for long-range accuracy, he took to the woods, and he set out for revenge.
> The New York Times hailed this trilogy as “one of the greatest historical accomplishments of our time”. With stunning detail and insights, America’s foremost Civil War historian recreates the war from its opening months to its final, bloody end. Each volume delivers a complete listening experience. The Coming Fury (Volume 1) covers the split Democratic Convention in the spring of 1860 to the first battle of Bull Run.
The former Confederate states have continually mythologized the South's defeat to the North, depicting the Civil War as unnecessary, or as a fight over states' Constitutional rights, or as a David v. Goliath struggle in which the North waged "total war" over an underdog South. In The Myth of the Lost Cause, historian Edward Bonekemper deconstructs this multi-faceted myth, revealing the truth about the war that nearly tore the nation apart 150 years ago.
United States Civil War veteran John D. Billings' Hard Tack and Coffee first hit the best-seller list way back in 1888, and has ever since been considered by historians to be a peerless source of information about the humdrum lives of soldiers fighting in one of the most brutal periods of conflict in US history.
Jim Roberts takes care to draw out Billings' characteristic humor in his performance of this work, clearly articulating Billings' tales of his day-to-day life and activities as a Union soldier. This work may be of special interest to Civil War reenactors, who will find it full of vivid details about the mundaneness of a soldier's life beyond the battlefield.
"His account is often full of humor as he describes soldiers' rations, fights with lice, and camp songs. Narrator Roberts does a good job overall." (AudioFile)
I enjoy history so this was very enlightening regarding the lives and trevails that our soldiers on both sides had to endure. There were many hardships that I don't think people understand in modern times. Gives lots of insite on how we lived and defended our nation during the Civil War.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
I purchased this title expecting to get a plain, matter-of-fact account of the day-to-day life of a civil war soldier. I was not disappointed.
If you are at all intrigued with the civil war and would like to hear a good first person account, you can probably "soldier" through this, but keep in mind there was no attempt made to make this material interesting to the average person.
The reader was as dry as the content.
The information was very complete, which is why I give it a high rating.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful
This book offers great insight into the civil war soldiers experience. It's a great book.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
this book is an essential book for anyone who is interested in life of the Union civil war soldier. I am a reenactor and have re read this book several times in hopes to understand every little aspect of army life between 1861 and 1865.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
If you could sum up Hard Tack and Coffee in three words, what would they be?
Really damn interesting.
What did you like best about this story?
The story told of many details about day to day life in the Union Army that I didn't know. Interesting stuff.
What does Jim Roberts bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
A decent tone of voice.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
It's not really a good book for a film, unless it was a documentary.
Any additional comments?
Super interesting.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I most liked the detail told largely through anecdotes of such a vast array of aspects of soldiering. Anyone wanting to know what army life was like, from the plight of horses, mules, pigs and cattle to the burying of the dead would like this account. The depth would no doubt be too much regarding some topics for some; however, others with a broad interest would seldom if ever abandon a chapter before its completion.
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Yes. There was alot of intersting information and quite a different prospective than most history books
Who was your favorite character and why?
n/a
How could the performance have been better?
The reader could have made the listen more intertaining if he had sounded like he was interested in the material his self.
Did Hard Tack and Coffee inspire you to do anything?
no
Any additional comments?
The editing could have been much better. At the end of every chapter the last word was cut short and spliced into the first word of the next chapter.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful