No Place for Glory

Major General Robert E. Rodes and the Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies)

By: Robert J. Wynstra

Narrated by: Gary L. Willprecht

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Over the years, many top historians have cited Major General Robert E. Rodes as the best division commander in Robert E. Lee’s vaunted army. Despite those accolades, Rodes faltered badly at Gettysburg, which stands as the only major blemish on his otherwise sterling record. Although his subordinates were guilty of significant blunders, Rodes shared the blame for the disjointed attack that led to the destruction of Alfred Iverson’s brigade on the first day of the battle. His lack of initiative on the following day was regarded by some in the army as much worse. Whether justified or not, they directly faulted him for not supporting Jubal Early’s division in a night attack on Cemetery Hill that nearly succeeded in decisively turning the enemy’s flank.

The reasons behind Rodes’s flawed performance at Gettysburg have long proven difficult to decipher with any certainty. Because his personal papers were destroyed, primary sources on his role in battle remain sparse. Other than the official reports on the battle, the record of what occurred there is mostly limited to the letters and diaries of his subordinates. In this new study, however, Robert J. Wynstra draws on sources heretofore unexamined, including rare soldiers’ letters published in local newspapers and other firsthand accounts located in small historical societies, to shed light on the reasons behind Rodes’s missteps.

The book is published by The Kent State University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

"Solidifies its multiple award-winning author's status as one of that campaign's best current historians." (Civil War Books and Authors)

"Exhaustively researched, skillfully written...inestimably valuable." (The Civil War Monitor)

©2021 The Kent State University Press (P)2023 Redwood Audiobooks

Narration sounds like a computer

This is a great study of Rode’s Division in the Gettysburg campaign but the narration is so flat, even, and monotone that it is difficult to enjoy. I may pick up the (expensive) print copy just to have a different voice in my head.