false 6 509 482 true 5641693 read 0 true 1128788 currently-reading 27 true 1128787 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81135698 Moon River and Me: A Memoir (Hardcover) by Andy Williams
bookshelves: to-read
Shhhhhhhhh,,,,, This is her favorite crooner; it will be under the Christmas tree!! I may get to it first though!! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77601021 to: Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War (Nation Divided: New Studies in Civil War History) by Charles B. Dew
This is a remarkable and eye opening account written by a Southerner on the true cause of the Civil War. No revisionist history, no editorializing, no spinning, just the stark unadulterated words and oratory taken from letters and speeches of a group of men called “Secession Commissioners” who fanned out across the South in late 1860 early 1861. Appointed by governors and legislatures just after the election of Abraham Lincoln their professed aim was to convince and lobby Southern slave states to join together in a common confederation and secede from the Union . I have long been familiar with “The Redeemers” who were citizens that worked to restore the South to Ante Bellum status during post war Reconstruction but I was thoroughly startled to learn of this coalition of secession commissioners who did their work immediately prior to the Civil War. Their arguments were steeped in race, imperative solidarity and calculated to preserve slavery in the South as an absolute necessity. Fittingly, little or no assertion of the argument of states’ rights was offered; obviously the primary message was not to be confused with minor issues!!

This is a must read for all, or for anyone even remotely interested in our history.

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78656646 to: Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage (Paperback) by Grady McWhiney
Sun Tzu and his “Art of War” would never have been able to reconcile the stature of General Robert E. Lee with the several disastrous decisions he made at Gettysburg in July, 1863. Lee negligently gave up the strategically superior high ground and impulsively ordered frontal assaults on two successive days against secure defensive positions which literally tore his Army to pieces and left carnage never to be forgotten.

A very narrow and single minded theory of warfare -- dictated from the top by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and inculcated into every West Point cadet from which most of the Civil War Commanders graduated -- was ardently followed by the South throughout the War. This doctrine called for traditional close order formations in offensive frontal assaults typically employed against entrenched and fortified breastworks and always with horrendous results. Its successful precepts followed by the US Army in the War with Mexico in the late 1840’s only gave false bravado to the young officers who would later become high level Commanders in the Civil War. To be sure the North began the War following the same dictum but more quickly identified the drastic shortcomings to men and materiel and adapted their mind set and tactics accordingly; the South just never did. Admittedly, General Grant too employed similar offensive operations with similar results. However, Grant increasingly took advantage of his opponent’s propensities by incorporating strategies that induced and maneuvered them into attacking his forces in fortified positions rather than the other way around.

From “This Mighty Scourge” James McPherson reiterates, “Of the Seventeen Civil War Army Commanders on both sides Sherman had the second-lowest percentage of casualties in his armies and Robert E. Lee’s Army had the highest.” Even to the bitter end neither Jefferson Davis nor his Commanders were ever able to successfully conceive of an alternative approach and in reality had no desire to so. Those that did try such as Joseph E. Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard were summarily relieved by Davis. The Southern Armies, already possessing fewer men than the Northern Armies, simply bled themselves to death until there were too few to carry on.

Students or non students of the Civil War would find the various charts in this concise book compelling and easy to follow and there is plenty of material here for future reference and study.

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77600665 to: Crossing to Safety (Paperback) by Wallace Stegner
A relationship book of 2 couples embarking on academic careers in Madison, Wisconsin and the story of their intermingling friendships. No huge peaks or valleys just lives and living, almost serene under Stegner's usual fine pen and typically comfortable writing. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75080221 to: This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War (Hardcover) by James M. McPherson
Sixteen essays all related to the Civil war and finally a book that firmly declares the true cause of the war, slavery, instead of all the other stated reasons usually trotted out in books and articles. These secondary causes have been offered for more than a century as primary causes and historians are now moving to correct the myth, a myth postulated even as the war was drawing to a close. As McPherson points out “The Civil War is a highly visible exception to the adage that victors write the history of wars”

There was even an essay here about the insipid coward, Jesse James which demonstrates fully just how much of despicable person he really was.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73398977 to: Memoir From Antproof Case (Paperback) by Mark Helprin
I was led to this book by Helprin’s great quote discovered at the beginning of “Hitman” the autobiography of Bret Hart who wrestled as part of “The Hart Foundation.” Hart cites Helprin as his favorite author and I found this quite an unexpected juxtaposition for a professional wrestler. Then, since Oscar Progresso, not his real name and part of the ruse, is composing his memoirs while residing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I deemed it appropriate to read the book while I was on vacation South of the equator but in Santiago, Chile. Alas, it turned out I did not have much time to read but on an excursion to La Serena we did stay in a cottage that had plenty of ants in residence.

I enjoyed this book immensely and the writing was excellent. Some situations, however, did rise to the level of far-fetched but fiction allows that license and I did not find that it detracted from the overall story. Oscar Progresso was a man of multiple nuances and I sympathized with his internal dialectic in justifying actions he pursued although I might not have pursued those same actions myself. Oscar was independent, strong and I admired his character in not compromising his beliefs to outside forces or pressures and remaining steadfast to his own values. His continuous and unrelenting attack on coffee and the coffee bean was nothing short of amazing.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76255455 to: The Matlock Paper (Paperback) by Robert Ludlum
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/10317833 John's review of The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War
by David Halberstam

Yes, I was chagrined at the lack of an objective account here and that is sadly how it works when the bias of the author is interjected in such a patently obvious fashion. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75079299 The New Jew: A Story of Conversion (Paperback) by Sally Srok Friedes
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Heard the author on the radio. The Goodreads description of this book is one of the weakest I have seen. Go to Amazon for Editorial reviews and customer reviews for a better idea of what this book is about. A Catholic girl from Milwaukee finds unexpected hope in a new religion... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73740738 Heaven and Earth: Global Warming, the Missing Science (Paperback) by Ian Plimer
bookshelves: to-read
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