Customer Reviews

1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Civil War

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I wrote this book and like it fairly well! I am irked by the fact that most people do NOT read prefaces! Many of the criticisms I see in the reviews of 1001 Things are explained in the preface--a quick read would have avoided much confusion. Please, when you read books, do the author a courtesy and read the preface. Much is often revealed there. Thanks.

I must admit that the seemingly conflicting reviews here encouraged me to read this book, and I discovered that the negative reviewers did not take the larger view that the author obviously did, and look at the war as a cost to both sides, and a tragedy and loss to both the North and South. (thus a battle is both a victory and a defeat...)Their comments seem mean-spirited and obviously not thought out; nor was the preface read by some of them! This author has done a difficult task- reducing the war into 1001 things- extremely well in my view; the biographical sketches were insightful and poetic and all of the battle descriptions were vivid and exciting. Excerpts from diaries and military papers and miniscule details show the depth of knowledge and the scope of research of this author. I would recommend it.

Books like this one---essentially "facts" books designed as quick and entertaining reference---are often misunderstood, as evidenced by several prior reviews in this forum! From reading this book, it is obvious that Frank Vandiver has encyclopedic knowledge of the War Between the States, and that there is something for everyone to learn by just reading it, including the Preface.

This book tackles a very difficult subject and presents it in a straight forward and easily readable context. There is a lot of information here and the abundance of pictures is appreciated (although, why is there no picture of Jefferson Davis?) The book does not attempt to be the final word on the Civil War. Its chronological approach is effective and the descriptions of the Generals is particularly insightful. I recommend the book to anyone interested in becoming at least competent at cocktail parties to discuss the Civil War. The only real complaint I have is that the book is noticeably pro Confederacy. The book is written by a Texan, so this should be no surprise. The problem is that when a bias presents itself, it makes the reader wonder about the accuracy of the information presented. Granted, I'm a northerner, but the Civil War has been over for over 135 years--the time for rationalizations is long past. By the end of the book, however, I started to just view the information as naturally skewered towards the Confederacy and I got back to enjoying the book. A good read and a nice start for someone, like myself, who wants to know the basics about the Civil War.

Credibility was lost on page 10, Fact 22 Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln (no middle name) was born on February 12, 1809, the second child to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln (née Hanks), in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in southeast Hardin County, Kentucky. How could this fact slip by the proofreaders I'll never know. I had to lay the book on the shelf to collect dust for a while before I could pick it up again. Illinois proudly calls itself the "Land of Lincoln." However, Kentucky, just as proudly proclaims herself "The Birthplace of Lincoln." And, FYI: Kentucky happens to be the birthplace of Jefferson Davis as well.

I was very disappointed in this book. The errors were evident at the outset. in 124 he cited Big Bethel as "a victory that helped briefly preserve that part of the Union for the Confederacy" and then in 127 says "On June 10 1861, General Benjamin Butler (q.v.) ...ordered a poorly conceived surprise attack against a Rebel Outpost at Big Bethel. The troops were repulsed with heavy losses." Which was it? A victory or a defeat? Worse, he finishes describing the Southern victory at First Manassas (First Bull Run) and says "For the South it was a Pyrrhic victory, for it tended to prove that one Rebel could whip ten Yankees..." For heaven's sake! This man is an academic and an historian and he doesn't even know what a Pyrrhic victory is!!! Even the style of the book ( boldface major ideas with no indentation and indent those numbers that are asides to the main point) is violated throughout and provide an eyesore to the reader. It looks like this book was rushed to print without an editor. In sum, definitely not worth the price, and there are many better introductions to this watershed in our history.

Thanks to 2/14 "Sad" Review for piquing my curiosity, I got a copy and found Vandiver's 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Civil War to be a lot of fun, breaches notwithstanding! In fact, I checked the entry "Sad" complains about with the source, Francis Miller's outstanding 10-volumn series, Photographic History of the Civil War. Miller too has General Sherman leaning on the "breach" of the gun! Misspelling aside, the book is a good one, and I am grateful to a scholar of Vandiver's stature for taking the time to do a popular work of this nature. 1001 Thanks!

It regrettable that a writer of Dr. Vandiver's stature lent his name to this poorly edited and apparently unproofed volume. ( One caption refers to the " breach " of a gun. ) Some interesting details but, essentially, below par.

A very poorly written book

ANY HISTORIAN WHO CONFUSES THE NAME OF A GREAT GENERAL WITH THE ANCIENT PLYING OF HUMAN FLESH, AKA, HOOKERS, SHOULD BE FIRED FROM HIS POST AND REDUCED TO THE ENGAGEMENT WITH SADAM HUSSEIN. PERHAPS THE CONTEMPORY WORLD WOULD BETTER SUIT HIS KNOWLEDGE BASE.