As I was lucky enough to get an Amazon voucher as a birthday gift I was able to purchase some books I have wanted to read for a while (in one case a very long while).
The first purchase was the ACW history trilogy by Shelby Foote. I'm about halfway through the first volume and really enjoying it. The books run through the war chronologically and focus on the personalities and politics rather than the military detail, although that is there too. What I am really enjoying is the character analysis of the main players. It's a warts an all discussion of them showing the good and the bad. So far McClelland is coming off better than he is usually shown as the level of political interference he had to deal with is explained in detail. Neither Lee nor Jackson are subjected to the usual appraisal of being capable of very little wrong. Jackson especially coming across as a real oddball and probably not someone you would want to invite to one of those which historical characters would you invite to a dinner party if you had a time machine things. Not that he would have been likely to accept anyway.
What I'm finding interesting is the almost clinical approach which Foote takes, it works on the basis of these were the decisions, this is why they were made, these are the people who made them and their personal objectives and this was the outcome. No significant attempt to blame or praise the decision makers just a straight forward analysis of cause and effect. Others have said Foote is a novelist rather than a historian, well that's as may be but it doesn't impact on the content in any appreciable way. I have more subjective accounts from bone fide historians.
I bought these as Kindle downloads and they work remarkably well. The maps especially are a joy. Passing the cursor over a map opens it up into a larger view. In fact the maps are really informative which is not always the case with these things.
The other purchase was a physical one a copy of a book I have wanted for a very long time. David Chandler's Atlas of Military Strategy 1618–1878. Many years ago I was writing a dissertation on marketing strategy for a college course and I was discussing a then current theory about the similarities between marketing and military strategy from one of the leading textbooks on Marketing. I needed some images to show the classical military battlefield tactics and a friend provided an excerpt from Chandler's book which was perfect. Ever since that day I have wanted to read the book but it has been long out of print. I found a second hand hardback copy on Amazon for £8.50 which was in excellent condition. It shows it's age in parts, but it was written in 1980 so its to be expected. I'd have liked something that looked into grand tactical manoeuvres for the same period but Chandler isn't bad, especially for £8.50.
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| It covers what it says on the cover - and does it really quite well. |
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