Customer Reviews

Civil War Journal: The Leaders (v. 1)

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This book is an excellent resource for both the amateur and professional Civil War historian. This book provides the key facts with some insight into the lives of some of the main figures of the American Civil War. As a professional Civil War Historian it can be admitted at times that there are certain things that we all forget and this book makes it a lot easier to refer to than trying to page through a 1000 page biography. This book is a very good refresher and is extremely easy to read and understand. I also like the choice of photogrpahs that are used throughout the book. These are some of the more famous photographs taken and in this sense it provides a good introduction for the amateur Civil War Historian. I recommend this book as a must for any Civil War library. This along with the other two books in the series are a must for every Civil War Historian regardless to the degree of study of that individual.

This book, although full of intersting facts, is very easy to read. It is a general overview of the more popular and historic figures of the civil war. Although this book is fairly well informed, it falls short on some of the backgrounds of the war leaders. The main focus of the book is the time that they spend in the war, there is maybe 2-4 pages in life prior and after the war. This is a good book for a collection and I would recommend it to those who have a new found interest in the civil war. This book is not the cornerstone of anyones collection, but a good reference tool and outline of the main leaders of the civil war.

"Civil War Journal" was a series that I enjoyed immensely when it began its telecast run in the 1990s. This volume is one of the print outcomes of that project, edited by William Davis, Brian Pohanka, and Don Troiani (a well respected artist).

The focus of this volume is the leaders. There is parallelism in numbers of chapters on Union and Confederate leaders. In addition, there is a chapter on John Brown and another on West Point classmates (many leaders on opposite sides of the Civil War still retained respect and friendship with their putative enemies). The chapter on West Point classmates is especially interesting, as it lays out the bonds developed there--and how these affected interactions among classmates later on (e.g., George Custer sometimes crossed the battle lines to attend a wedding or birthday of a classmate--page 51).

Who are some of the subjects of this volume? On the Confederate side, we see Jefferson Davis (formerly a combat officer in the Mexican War as well as Secretary of War), Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Jeb Stuart, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and John Singleton Mosby). Union leaders? George McLellan, Ulysses Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, Winfield Scott Hancock, Daniel Sickles, Phil Sheridan, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Other chapters" Frederick Douglass and "Boy Generals."

A bit more detail on one of the chapters might be useful. The chapter on the "Boy Generals" focuses on youthful leaders. Stephen Ramseur was a general by age 25. William Roberts was the youngest Confederate general by age 23; Union general Gelusha Pennypacker attained general's rank at age twenty! Other "boy generals"--George Custer, Fitzhugh Lee, Micah Jenkins, Nelson Miles, Francis Barlow, Emory Upton, and so on. Fascinating reading!

Sometimes, there is not the detail that I would like, but this still does well at what it does.

As a Civil War buff, I was pleasantly surprised at how much depth is covered in these short, biographical chapters. I know quite a bit about many of the leaders included in the volume and I did not find any glaring errors or oversimplifications. Each chapter has a team of writers and the editors did an excellent job of melding their contributions into a coherent, readible finished product. In short chapters, the writers and editors did a remarkable job in capturing the characters of their subjects. Furthermore, the book casts judgment on the success of characters such as Jefferson Davis and Georgwe McClellan. I like the fact that it takes a position and, in my opinion, these positions are fairly arrived at. For example, the editors unequivocally declare McClellan to be a failure. In a short chapter, they support their conclusions well. Indeed, they did a great job in seeking the answers to what made McClellan tick. The writing is lucid, the illustrations and captions are illuminating and the conclusions drawn are interesting. I enjoyed this book wholeheartedly.

What an excellent read. "The Leaders" is just another addition to this wonderful trilogy (The Legacies, The Leaders, The Battles) Try to read these three great books. "The Leaders" offers refreshing insights into many great characters of the period.