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War So Terrible: Sherman and Atlanta
War So Terrible Sherman and Atlanta
Author: James Lee McDonough, James Pickett Jones
Explains the political and historical significance of General Sherman's Atlanta campaign in 1864, discusses the strategy of the campaign, and looks at the leadership on both sides.
ISBN-13: 9780393024975
ISBN-10: 0393024970
Publication Date: 1/1988
Pages: 385
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1

3 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: W W Norton Co Inc
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

hardtack avatar reviewed War So Terrible: Sherman and Atlanta on + 2541 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
PROs: This is a well written, popular history book about the Union's Atlanta Campaign in 1864. The authors do a very good job making it entertaining even for those who are not Civil War die-hards. While covering the campaign at the command level they also add a great deal of information from the low-ranking soldiers and civilians. They also add stories which should keep the average reader turning pages.

CONs: There are no citations in the book. So, when you read something you might question or would like to know more about you have to assume the authors had a primary source for it and just didn't make it up. The authors do include a bibliography, but you have no idea in which source that text originated from.

This might have been done on purpose. Some reviewers on Amazon state the authors were accused of plagiarism. Another reviewer states the publisher withdrew this book from publication due to the plagiarism charges, which may confirm the charges.

As I am a Civil war fanatic, I do have to make at least one comment on something the authors wrote. They claim that, "Robert. E. Lee is unquestionably the greatest Civil War commander." Since the book was published in 1987, I can forgive them for not knowing the more recent analysis of Lee's leadership. For example, Civil War scholars have computed the daily casualty rate for every Civil War army commander. Guess who lost more men on a daily basis while commanding an army? Southern mythologists like to accuse General Grant of this, but it was actually General Lee. For example, the nine-day Chancellorsville campaign is acknowledged as Lee's greatest victory. But in just three days of that campaign the Army of Northern Virginia took 30% casualties.

While the case might be made that Lee was a great tactical commander, Grant was much better at strategy and that was one of the important reasons why the Union won. Plus, Lee was once asked---and I am not making this up---who was the best general of the war. He replied it was U.S. Grant.

Although I enjoyed reading the book, the non-listing of citations is why I only gave it three-stars. After all, this is a non-fiction book covering a period of history people are still arguing about after almost 160 years.
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