The Gallant Hood (Civil War Library) [Hardcover]

John P. Dyer (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Smithmark Pub (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0831732857
• ISBN-13: 978-0831732851
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,292,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book providing a fair and thorough look at JB Hood, July 12, 2009

By 

R. Bond "Civil War buff" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gallant Hood (Civil War Library) (Hardcover)

I just finished reading the Gallant Hood. I found the book provided a refreshing, thorough, and compassionate look at one of the more complex and misunderstood key participants in the war between the states. In this book, we get to see Hood the person, a man with unquestionable valor and bravery, yet one who, through circumstance, was put in a position that was not conducive to his strengths. Despite this, if not for several "unlucky breaks," Hood very well might have gone down in history as a great hero who lead the Confederacy to its independence. However, as it turns out, events were not so kind to Hood; he suffered both on the field (mangled arm, amputated leg, disgrace due to the results of the Nashville Campaign) and in his personal life (dead at the young age of 48, along with his wife and 10-year-old daughter due to yellow fever). As a result, Hood is often portrayed as a tragic historical figure. This book shows us that the tragedy in Hood's life was not the complete story and that for much of his life, Hood truly was Gallant.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even-handed treatment of Hood, not the caricature of recent historiography, October 24, 2008

By 

William S. Grass "Pacific War enthusiast" (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gallant Hood (Civil War Library) (Hardcover)

It may seem contradictory to describe something originally published in 1950 as refreshing, but that's exactly what Dyer's Gallant Hood is. We actually get a balanced account of the star-crossed Kentuckian (that's right--not originally a Texan) who despite his father's desire for him to become a doctor, became instead a soldier.

The death-defying hero of Gaines' Mill will always be overshadowed by the commanding general that ordered the assault at Franklin during the twilight of the C.S.A. However, in recent years the tabloid sensationalism and filtering out of positive primary sources has rendered Hood an egregious caricature, and made it very difficult to get more than a very superficial appreciation of him. Dyer does a good job of emphasizing the gallantry and devotion to duty of Hood, and lets positive primary sources speak to us. Nowhere does he even intimate that Hood was under the influence of drugs at Spring Hill, something which has become pabulum for civil war "buffs" but lacks any support from primary sources.

Dyer stops far short of an encomium for Hood, however. He concludes that the same traits that made Hood an outstanding field commander made him an unsuccessful army commander. He was at his best leading his brigade or division in desperate battle charging toward the enemy. Dyer concludes that Hood's visceral bravery and impetuousness displayed as a field commander became a liability when it came time to carefully plan a campaign, and that Hood lacked the introspection necessary to identify and rectify one's own faults.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Slanted look at Hood, April 15, 1999

By 

Lynn Robinson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gallant Hood (Civil War Library) (Hardcover)

I found Dyer's book on Hood to be very slanted and also boring. Dyer paints a rosy picture of Hood and pretty much states throughout the book that Hood did nothing wrong as a general. Another annoying thing about the book is that often times Dyer gets off Hood and begins to write about Lee, Longstreet, or someone else Hood served under. When writing about battles, Dyer often writes of the battle as a whole rather than what Hood's brigade or division was doing during the battle. This makes the book feel less of a bio of Hood and more of a book about battles that Hood was at. All in all, Dyer doesn't focus on Hood, the text is usually pretty boring, and he looks as if he set out to make Hood look like a genius. If you are interested in Hood I would recommend you skip this book and look into Richard McMurry's John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence.