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Great Gambles of the Civil War
The Civil War in America from 1861 to 1965 was, from the outset, a gamble - firstly political, then psychological, later diplomatic and, finally, militarily. Once hostilities began, the conflict was littered with cavalier actions, by individual commanders and units of men, which held little guarantee of success.
In a masterly account of thirteen dramatic 'throws of the dice', Philip Katcher shows how at all levels of command the desperate chance was often taken. He sums up the considerations of the parties involved, the risks they were taking and the results which might have been expected by success and failure, before actually charting the action, the actual outcome and the effect it had.
In a masterly account of thirteen dramatic 'throws of the dice', Philip Katcher shows how at all levels of command the desperate chance was often taken. He sums up the considerations of the parties involved, the risks they were taking and the results which might have been expected by success and failure, before actually charting the action, the actual outcome and the effect it had.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1996
About the author
Philip R.N. Katcher
74 books3 followersPhililp Katcher has written over 20 titles in the Men-at-Arms Series including the highly successful five-volume set on Armies of the American Civil War.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 24, 2015
Disappointing Collection
Originally Published in 1996.
Re-Issue Published by Castle Books in 2003.
Great Gambles of the Civil War focuses on those moments when a general took a risk to give himself an advantage. One could argue that all of war is a risk, including every battle and every maneuver but Author Philip Katcher has limited his book to just thirteen events. Some are battles, some are campaigns but all demonstrate risk. Philip Katcher has written numerous books on the Civil War so this has all the hallmarks of being a great book.
While there is no doubt that Katcher knows his stuff, most of these thirteen stories are just not interesting, or at least not told in an interesting manner. It's not that the stories aren't fact-filled, it's just that some are paced so poorly ("Mulligan Defends Lexington" comes to mind - it just drug on and on and almost made me quit the book entirely) that the story itself is lost in the telling. I think Shelby Foote demonstrated in his own histories of the Civil War that the stories crackle and shine if told well.
It's not that there are no good stories in the collection. I especially enjoyed "Brown Takes the CSS Arkansas to Vicksburg" - it was paced well and had the feel of a grand adventure. Sadly, too many of these stories felt like a tedious lecture rather than tales of "great gambles."
I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.
http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
Originally Published in 1996.
Re-Issue Published by Castle Books in 2003.
Great Gambles of the Civil War focuses on those moments when a general took a risk to give himself an advantage. One could argue that all of war is a risk, including every battle and every maneuver but Author Philip Katcher has limited his book to just thirteen events. Some are battles, some are campaigns but all demonstrate risk. Philip Katcher has written numerous books on the Civil War so this has all the hallmarks of being a great book.
While there is no doubt that Katcher knows his stuff, most of these thirteen stories are just not interesting, or at least not told in an interesting manner. It's not that the stories aren't fact-filled, it's just that some are paced so poorly ("Mulligan Defends Lexington" comes to mind - it just drug on and on and almost made me quit the book entirely) that the story itself is lost in the telling. I think Shelby Foote demonstrated in his own histories of the Civil War that the stories crackle and shine if told well.
It's not that there are no good stories in the collection. I especially enjoyed "Brown Takes the CSS Arkansas to Vicksburg" - it was paced well and had the feel of a grand adventure. Sadly, too many of these stories felt like a tedious lecture rather than tales of "great gambles."
I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.
http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
February 1, 2025
More a children's book than anything else. Not really an examination of 'gambles' but instead of particularly decisive engagements. Not especially well written, and mediocre scholarship at best. I think you're well served to look eslewhere for historical insights.
April 25, 2020
Very enjoyable reading and based on a good premise. Lots of annoying printing errors.
July 10, 2009
My parents picked this one up for me while they were on a road trip down South. The book focuses on gambles the different combatants took during the American Civil War and succeeded with. There a different types of gambles from naval engagements, to small unit actions, all the way up thru corp level gambles. Each chapter is the complete story of the gamble with no particular order to the gambles. Because of this, the book makes for a good bedside reader or when a person doesn’t mind picking up a book for a short period of time.
Rating wise this ones a three star book. Items causing this rating included Mr. Katcher’s writing style and the gambles he chose to include. Mr. Kathcer’s writing style was a little bland and failed to grab me. At points I felt Mr. Katcher stayed to close to the facts and where a rousing description could have made a chapter, Mr. Katcher chose to present just the facts, rather Joe Friday’ish. This was further complicated by there being limited maps of each of the engagements and a miss-ordering of some of the gambles (placing Magrude’s deception of McClellan after JEB Stuarts ride around the Union forces in the Peninsula Campaign is criminal). On the gambles, while Mr. Katcher has an interesting concept of covering gambles during war, I felt he limited himself to successes and gambles that achieved an immediate success. A few chapters I’d have loved to have seen included were; Grierson’s Raid, the Battle for the Crater, Morgan’s Raid, Mosby’s Raids, and Jackson’s Shenandoah Campaign. If these additional gambles would have been included (or different ones) and Mr. Katcher had provided an assessment of their impact on the “bigger” events, then I believe Mr. Katcher’s work would have been more complete.
Rating wise this ones a three star book. Items causing this rating included Mr. Katcher’s writing style and the gambles he chose to include. Mr. Kathcer’s writing style was a little bland and failed to grab me. At points I felt Mr. Katcher stayed to close to the facts and where a rousing description could have made a chapter, Mr. Katcher chose to present just the facts, rather Joe Friday’ish. This was further complicated by there being limited maps of each of the engagements and a miss-ordering of some of the gambles (placing Magrude’s deception of McClellan after JEB Stuarts ride around the Union forces in the Peninsula Campaign is criminal). On the gambles, while Mr. Katcher has an interesting concept of covering gambles during war, I felt he limited himself to successes and gambles that achieved an immediate success. A few chapters I’d have loved to have seen included were; Grierson’s Raid, the Battle for the Crater, Morgan’s Raid, Mosby’s Raids, and Jackson’s Shenandoah Campaign. If these additional gambles would have been included (or different ones) and Mr. Katcher had provided an assessment of their impact on the “bigger” events, then I believe Mr. Katcher’s work would have been more complete.
July 28, 2015
Like many such compendium volumes, it has the problem that the author can't be an expert in everything, and in a few cases overlooks details that put a different spin on the context. Still, the book is a fascinating examination of military risk-taking, from small unit combat to more complex battles and campaigns. By not focusing purely on successful gambles, it becomes more interesting as the successes and failures slowly unfold to the reader.
Readers who find any particular chapter especially interesting will be easily able to follow up, as most of them are about incidents which are included in more in-depth works.
Readers who find any particular chapter especially interesting will be easily able to follow up, as most of them are about incidents which are included in more in-depth works.
January 17, 2010
Very interesting book. I found out some details of major batles I didn't know, and I found out about some battles that I had never heard of. The only thing that is stopping me from giving it 5 stars is that the author doesn't really get into how these battles affected or may have affected the overall war. He tends to stick on the small picture. I would have liked additional information/speculation on how it affected the big picture.
July 19, 2011
This book's major flaws come from poor editing. It contains many typos and historical inaccuracies. Also, the format of each chapter is very dull and repetitive.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews