Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant would come to symbolize the armies they led as the spring campaign got underway. This book recounts some of the most famous episodes and most compelling human dramas from the marquee match-up of the Civil War.
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Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant would come to symbolize the armies they led as the spring campaign got underway. This book recounts some of the most famous episodes and most compelling human dramas from the marquee match-up of the Civil War.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 336 p. Emerging Civil War Anniversary. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 336 p. Emerging Civil War Anniversary. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 336 p. Emerging Civil War Anniversary. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Public History is generally defined as the use of historical skills and methods outside the academic setting, The aim of public history is to make the study of history accessible and important to a broad audience.
Founded in 2011, Emerging Civil War aims to practice public history by encouraging Americans of all persuasions and walks of life to learn about the Civil War. Among other activities, it maintains an active blogging platform and prepares books, including this recent work, "Grant vs Lee: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War" (2022). Chris Makowski, the editor-in -chief at ECW, and longtime contributor, Dan Welch edited this volume which examines the long, decisive combat between Ulysses Grant, the commander of all the United States armies who travelled with the Army of the Potomac and General George Meade, and Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. The book begins in April 1864 and ends in April 1865 with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.
The book consists of 45 short essays, many of them based upon blog posts, together with maps, photographs, and guides to the battlefields, all of which enhance the text. The essays are arranged chronologically and cover the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg and the fall of Petersburg and Richmond, and the final Appomattox Campaign.
The generalship of Grant and Lee receives substantial attention in the volume but its scope is broader. Most of the essays involve small incidents and particular people in the brutal final year of the war rather than broad questions of strategy or tactics. The book has a personal feel as it teaches its readers about those who participated in the combat on the ground. So too, the book is not detailed, full military history but on the whole concentrates on particular people and places.
The book ibegins with the Battle of the Wilderness in May, 1864 and covers some unusual moments in the Overland Campaign such as the action at Totopotomoy. The essays stress the continuous, deadly character of the fighting and Grant's determination to slide around the Confederate Army in the face of heavy losses. The longest essay in the book covers the Battle of Petersburg in June, 1864 which nearly ended the war before the armies settled in for a nine-month siege. Several essays discuss the Crater, the attack of Fort Stedman and the fall of Petersburg, with the final group of essays discussing Appomattox and Lee's surrender to Grant.
Of the many outstanding, well-written essays in this book, I most enjoyed the contribution by Caroline Davis, "A Poet's Perspective: Herman Melville on the Fall of Richmond" which creatively examines Melville's poem "The Fall of Richmond" from his collection "Battle-Pieces". Melville wrote that most of the poems in his collection "originated in an impulse imparted by the fall of Richmond." I was glad to find Davis's discussion of Melville's work in this volume of public history. It encourages the reader to think about the relationship between history and literature as well as to get to know Melville's poetry.
The collection, as a whole, is engaging and moving. It has a cumulative effect as the reader gets involved in the long series of battles and in the outcome. It teaches, in the words of Chris Heisey who took photographs for the book, "the importance of not forgetting the day-to-day horror that the blue and gray who fought for Grant and Lee endured these many years ago." Even more importantly, it encourages reflection on the nature of the conflict and on the stakes involved for American democracy and all its people. History such as that presented in this book encourages thought on the ideals of our country and of the great cost and effort in working to realize these ideals. It suggests too that the process is ongoing.
This book will encourage readers to think about the final year of the Civil War and its significance. It fulfills both the broad goals of public history and the more specific goals of the ECW. The publisher of the book, Savas Beatie, kindly sent me a review copy.