Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (Meridian) [Paperback]

Ned Bradford (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1989 | Series: Meridian

First-hand testimonials from officers, soldiers, and civilians involved in America's bloodiest conflict, accompanied by black and white line drawings, etchings, and maps. Covers battles from Bull Run and Gettysburg to the surrender at Appomattox, with words from Lee, Grant, Sherman as well as lesser known participants such as medics and nurses.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

First-hand testimonials from officers, soldiers, and civilians involved in America's bloodiest conflict, accompanied by black and white line drawings, etchings, and maps. Covers battles from Bull Run and Gettysburg to the surrender at Appomattox, with words from Lee, Grant, Sherman as well as lesser known participants such as medics and nurses. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Plume (December 30, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452010047
• ISBN-13: 978-0452010048
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,946,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Battles and Leaders, April 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (Meridian) (Paperback)

Be careful what edition of this book you get. The original edition was a large, useful collection of primary sources. However, another edition was put out which, while still a collection of primary documents, was much shorter and could not be considered definitive at all. The latter was the one I wound up with, and I didn't get much use out of it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Most Readable Primary Source for the American Civil War, July 23, 2000

By 

James J. Bloom (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (Meridian) (Paperback)

This compendium of battle studies and reports was written by commanders of all levels: Grant, Sherman, Lee and Longstreet down to lieutenants commanding companies for points of clarification on minor skirmishes or segments of the battlefield.The accounts were set down when the war was still fresh in their memories, yet when enough time had passed for reflection.

The fact that several viewpoints, some conflicting, are given for each major battle and campaign adds immeasurably to the value of this work. Of course recent "scholarship" has eclipsed and corrected many of these accounts. However, you get the immediacy and vigor of the post-war controversies and the finger-pointing --- the first early exposition of the rift between Longstreet and the Jubal Early faction for example.

Battles and Leaders was for a long time THE source for the early critical historians of the war such as John Codman Ropes, W. Henderson (the pre-eminent biographer of Stonewall Jackson) as well as the generals themselves who wanted to cross-check their accounts. This was the case until well after the release of the Offical Records some ten years later.

There were inevitable lapses of style and critical ability in the original multi-volume edition; these for the most part have been weeded out from this accessible one-volume version.

The great part about this book for me is that one can get the flavor of the passions still raging, even though the writers attempted a detached and clinical tone for credibility's sake.

Johnson and Buell made a concerted effort to elicit a well-rounded picture for battles and episodes which were the subject of intense debate.

If you have any interest in the Civil War, and lack the time to sift through the voluminous post-war memoirs of the commanders, you'll want to keep Battles and Leaders handy.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super reference volume, June 2, 2000

By 

A Petri - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (Meridian) (Paperback)

This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!