Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, Volume 1: Classic Essays on America's Civil War (Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi)
Books / Hardcover
Books › Literary Criticism › American › General
ISBN: 1572337001 / Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press, May 2010
Volume one of a two volume set, this collection of essays details the lives and careers of confederate generals and their experiences west of the Appalachians during the Civil War. Each written in accessible narrative style, the essays explore specific topics in relation to each historical figure and provide relevant maps and photographs. This first volume presents essays by historians written mainly around the centennial of the war and previously published in a variety of magazines and scholarly journals but not widely circulated. This series would be of interest to civil war historians, especially those interested in the less often discussed western theater. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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This collection, the first of several projected volumes, brings together some of the best previously published essays on Confederate commanders in the Western Theater. Including articles by such distinguished historians as Grady McWhiney, Charles P. Roland, T. Harry Williams, Frank E. Vandiver, Archer Jones, and Edwin C. Bearss, many of these pieces have only appeared in academic journals, and most have long been out of print. In resurrecting them, this volume introduces a new generation of readers to some of the mid–twentieth century’s most significant Civil War scholarship.As part of a new series, The Western Theater in the Civil War, this volume reflects the premise that truly understanding the outcome of the war can only be gained through greater knowledge of the western campaigns and the generals who waged them. The essays gathered here—such as Roland’s reassessment of Albert Sidney Johnston, Williams’s examination of P. G. T. Beauregard’s role at Shiloh, Bearss’s look at Bedford Forrest’s great tactical victory at Brice’s Cross Roads, and Vandiver’s analysis of John Bell Hood’s use of logistics—are admirable contributions to this goal. Significantly, in addition to highlighting the Western Theater’s best-known generals, this volume also includes essays on two of its less familiar ones, Patton Anderson and Daniel C. Govan, thus rescuing these fascinating figures from undeserved oblivion.Future volumes of Confederate Generals in the Western Theater will showcase the latest scholarship with new essays written expressly for the series. By gathering classic earlier work between one set of covers, this opening foray sets a high standard indeed.
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