7th Texas Cavalry
Civil War Book Reviews
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The Following reviews were submitted
1. Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Character, Courage, and Vision - Author: H.W. Crocker
Synopsis: When you look up the word “leader” in the dictionary it should say see the life of Robert E. Lee. A great learning tool for practical application in anyone’s job/career, or if you just want to see aspects of the leadership skills that made Lee one of the most admired commander of any general in history. It goes through Lee’s life chronologically and points out the various character traits, such as “Lee the Visionary” or “Lee the Strategist” that are pointed out through his extraordinary life’s endeavors. - Reviewed by David M. Hewell
2. Southern Invincibility: A History of the Confederate Heart - Author: Wiley Sword
Synopsis: Discover the source of Southern pride through the memoirs and first hand accounts of Confederate soldiers and citizens. Interesting perspective on the psychological effects that the war had on the people throughout the entire South. It reads chronologically and near the end you will feel like crying if you are a true Rebel. - Reviewed by David M. Hewell
3. What If?:TheWorld’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been - Editors: Robert Cowley and Stephen E. Ambrose
Synopsis: This book encompasses all of history but if you had to read only one of the chapters read the one titled “If the Lost Order Hadn’t Been Lost: Robert E. Lee Humbles the Union, 1862.” This is a definite thought provoking take on Lee’s first invasion of the North-a prelude to Antietam. - Reviewed by David M. Hewell
4. The Killer Angels - Author: Michael Shaara
Synopsis: Of course this is the basis for the movie “Gettysburg” but it’s like the movie with extra scenes in literary form. It is historical fiction at its best taking on a detailed description of the Battle of Gettysburg through the descriptions of Generals’ Lee, Longstreet, Buford and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. Fascinating changes of perspective on the war through these men. - Reviewed by David M. Hewell
5. Reliving the Civil War: A Reenactor’s Handbook - Author: Robert Lee Hadden
Synopsis: A good manual for those of us in the 12th Texas or any unit for that matter who are getting started in Civil War reenacting (less than a year’s experience). It covers the clothing to wear, firearms, safety, proper camping, etc. and the reenactments themselves. - Reviewed by David M. Hewell
6. The Red Badge of Courage - Author: Stephen Crane
Synopsis: Most of us have probably read this when we were kids. Well, it is one of the first historical dramas that uses the American Civil War as a backdrop and is just as exciting to read now as an adult. Classic historic fiction, lightning paced, a dramatic read-CHARGE!!! - Reviewed by David M. Hewell
7. A Diary from Dixie - Author: Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut
She was the wife of Senator James Chesnut of South Carolina. He resigned his seat in the Senate and led South Carolina's Secession Convention, then became a Colonel on Jeff Davis staff, and then General. This is a great incite, her diary starts before the war, goes through session, the war and reconstruction. Prior to the war she hobnobbed with the Washington elite. Read her description of Lincoln. And talks with Gen.Robert E. Lee. This was an educated lady. This is great historical reading, this book is a treasure. Reviewed by Stephen D. Forman
8. The Warrior Generals-Combat Leadership in the Civil War - Author: Thomas B. Buell.
A provocative evaluation of six Civil War commanders...that challenges much conventional wisdom...All will find this book interesting and challenging. The six generals: Grant, Lee, Hood, Thomas, Gordon, and Barlow. Reviewed by Stephen D. Forman
9. Co. Aytch - Author: Sam R. Watkins.
I rank this right along side of Memoirs of a Confederate Private Front and Rear by Billy Allen Fletcher. It is a personal narrative of the War Between the States. Co. Aytch is the work of a natural storyteller who balances the horror of war with an irrepressible sense of humor and a sharp eye for the lighter side of battle. Among Civil War memoirs, it is considered a classic-a living testament to one man's enduring humanity, courage, and wisdom in the midst of death and destruction. Reviewed by Stephen D. Forman
10. That Devil Forrest-Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest - Author: John Allan Wyeth.
"That devil Forrest was down and about Johnsonville, making havoc among the gunboats an transports."-General Sherman to General Grant, November 6, 1864 You just gotta love a guy that the Union generals hated so much, and feared so much that they refer to him as "that devil." I think that General N.B. Forrest, was the most courageous general of any army and maybe the greatest cavalryman ever. This is a good book. Reviewed by Stephen D. Forman
11. The Story of The Confederacy -Foreword by Douglas Southall Freeman- Author: Robert Selph Henry.
Long regarded as the most stirring and authoritative one-volume account of the brilliant, tragic years of the Confederacy, this new and revised edition of Robert Selph Henry's Story of the Confederacy is further distinguished by a special introduction written by the South's foremost historian, Douglas Southall Freeman. As Dr. Freeman says in his introduction, "This is the one book with which to begin one's study of the period it covers and the book to which to return when everything else on the subject has been read." Here in a single volume you will find the entire dramatic story of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and all the gallant heroes of the Lost Cause. From Fort Sumter to Appomattox Court House, from the high and glorious hopes of Davis' inaugural address at Montgomery, to the last dipping of the Confederate colors in November, 1865, you will follow with unabated excitement the thrilling tale of the men who fought the War for Southern Independence. Reviewed by Stephen D. Forman
12. The Illustrated Confederate Reader selected and edited by Rod Gragg.
This is written from a Southern viewpoint and I highly recommend it. It has excellent photos, a collection of letters, dispatches, and other firsthand accounts. Reviewed by Stephen D. Forman
13. Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara
Synopsis: This book is one of a rare breed. Jeff Shaara is the son of Michael Shaara, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book The Killer Angels, (which is reviewed elsewhere in this section). He has continued his father’s love of our country’s most difficult time with this powerful and true-to-life study of the events that lead up to the Battle of Gettysburg. The Killer Angels is an in-depth study, of the three days of the battle, through the eyes of four of the key players. Gods and Generals is similar, only in the format. (that being that the book follows the lives of four key players during the Civil War: Joshua Chamberlain, Winfield Scott Hancock, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Robert E. Lee. It is, in truth, a prequel to The Killer Angels, and purposefully written that way by the author. He felt that his father had created a masterpiece in 1975, and that he did not get to finish it before his death. Jeff, therefore, styles his writing exactly as he felt his father would have, and takes us back even further, to the events that begin in the late 1850’s, several years before Lincoln is even elected. The book follows the lives of these four as they cross, separate, and cross again. For anyone who needs a crash course on the specific historical events that lead to this most terrible of wars, or for anyone who yearns for a character study as to why these four people chose that paths that they did, this book is a “don’t miss”. Ultimately, I would say that anyone who has a passion for the War Between the States (Yankee or Reb) should check this one out. You will not want to put it down, I didn’t. Reviewed by Rick Norton
14. The Last Full Measure: by Jeff Shaara
Synopsis: Like The Killer Angels and Gods and Generals before, this book follows the lives of some key players in the Civil War, this time it is Lee, Chamberlain, and Grant (there are some specifically titled chapters, such as one on Stuart, but they are not “primary”). The Last Full Measure follows the war after the Battle of Gettysburg and through the end of the war (even to go so far as the 50th reunion, in 1913, of that battle as remembered by Joshua Chamberlain). It also gives us an “afterword” regarding all of the key players, military and civilian, of the war. (I especially liked the part about what happened to Traveller, Lee’s great grey friend). It is a fitting and well-written end to the “trilogy” of three books, begun in 1975 by one man on a mission, and completed in loving detail and homage by his very talented son. I understand the Mr. Shaara is working on a new book, due out this year. I can hardly wait. Reviewed by Rick Norton
15. The Guns of the South: by Harry Turtledove
Synopsis: Those of you not familiar with the author will be pleasantly surprised at his “unusual” writing style. This book is a very interesting and “science fiction” laced view of what the war would have been like if the South had had a superior advantage in the way of firepower. I will not give all the secrets of the book away, (because there are SEVERAL interesting twists in addition to what I write here), but just imagine what the battlefield would have been like if you were a Confederate Trooper, fighting the enemy, with your AK-47 slung over your shoulder and several clips in your saddle bags. Interesting supposition, isn’t it? I promise you won’t be disappointed with the exquisite level of historical detail that Mr. Turtledove weaves into his science fiction fantasy. Reviewed by Rick Norton
16. Shenandoah Whispers And Echoes - Author: Tom Orrell
Outstanding! There are times in a read when the story is simple, yet profound. This is what I found in the exceptional work, Shenandoah Whispers And Echoes, by Tom Orrell. It begins in the present when a man finds an old handwritten journal giving the account of a man's life in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the end of the 19th century. In this journal we share the life of this man and his family, from his childhood, through the Civil War and its aftermath. I wondered as I read the accounts of the atrocities that were done to these people during the war just how true they were. If they are true to form, it is no wonder that hatred ran deep for their Northern countrymen. We walk with him as he struggles to overcome the tragedies that life brought his way as he grows to manhood, share his joys; watch as he battles injustices, faces incredible loss of numerous loved ones, and desperately tries to make sense of the very existence he is in. This is a work that runs deep and! will keep you on an emotional high. A story that will grip your heart as you share one man's journey through this experience we call, life. Recommended.
Submitted by: Tom Orrell, author
Shirley P. Johnson, Senior Reviewer - MidWest Book Review
I.T.Orrell@Verizon.com