Customer Reviews

Commanders and Heroes of the American Civil War (Vital Guides)

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I didn't notice when I ordered this book that it was only about one hundred pages long. The pages are 9 x 5 1/2 wide. Being one hundred pages means it only devotes one or two pages to each person. For example, there are only three pages devoted to Robert E. Lee, when volumes have been written about him.

The author takes up a lot of space telling you where general-so-and-so was born, who his parents were, where he died, what date, etc., which is unimportant in most cases.

One sentence bothered me. "...However, after "Stonewall" Jackson had sucessfully taken Harper's Ferry (September 1862) and rejoined Lee, they were sucessful at Antietam (September 1862) and were able to cross the Potomac river". There are two problems with this. First, the order of events is reversed; they crossed the Potomac River and then fought at Antietam. Second, most historians don't see it as a victory for Lee. Some see it as a draw pointing out that while the Union lost more men, Lee had to retreat. Others see it a tactical loss. They point out the objective of a victory in the North was not achieved, therefore intervention by France or England would not occur, and that Lee had to withdraw back to Georgia. I am inclined to agree with the latter group. Apparently at the time it was enough of a victory for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclimation. So when I see such a statement, I have to doubt the accuracy of the rest of the book.

Don't buy this book, you can get better information at Wikipedia.

These co-authors (Sutherland and Canwell) are second-rate former British school teachers who have made a living for around 12 years writing about 15 books a year (one every 3-4 weeks). They keep up this output by taking a subject (ANY subject), then copying facts, names, statistics, quotes and illustrations from others' books and websites at high speed. They have no expertise in any subject and where readers do bother to write reviews, these are usually dismissive.
My objection started when I bought two of their books on the basis of very misleading promotions, and also found that the authors were copying texts and photos from British naval histories while advertising themseleves as original researchers.