Immagine dell'autore.

Noah Andre Trudeau

Autore di Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage

14+ opere 1,794 membri 25 recensioni 1 preferito

Sull'Autore

Fonte dell'immagine: Little, Brown And Company

Serie

Opere di Noah Andre Trudeau

Opere correlate

MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 1996 (1996) — Author "Kill the Last Damn One of Them" — 26 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 1998 (1998) — Author "The Battle of Westport" — 13 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 1995 (1995) — Author "That "Unerring Volcanic Firearm"" — 12 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Autumn 2008 (2008) — Author "Needless Valor" — 11 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2000 (2000) — Author "A Record of Wreckage" — 10 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Winter 1994 (1993) — Author "The Walls of 1864" and "The Campaign Trenches Today" — 9 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Winter 2009 (2008) — Author "Decision at Five Forks" — 9 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Winter 2006 (2005) — Author "Ambush on the North Anna" — 9 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 2008 (2008) — Author "Thunder on the Hudson" — 8 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2008 (2008) — Author "Kill-Cavalry's Ride to the Sea" — 8 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2005 (2005) — Author "A Symphony of War" and "Listening Guide to the Symphony" — 8 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 2007 (2007) — Author "Mercenary Pilots With La Patrulla Americana" — 8 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Autumn 2003 (2003) — Author "The Fort's Our Own!" — 7 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2003 (2003) — Author "When the Nation Required a Victory" — 7 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 2009 (2009) — Author "Did Lee Doom Himself at Gettysburg?" — 7 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Winter 2010 (2009) — Author "Taking a King's Crown" — 6 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 2000 (2000) — Author "Burnside's Web-Footed Warriors" — 5 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Autumn 2006 (2006) — Author "Charles Lee's Disgrace" — 3 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2010 (2010) — Author "A 'Band of Demons' Fights for Texas" and "Training for Generals" — 3 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 2011 (2011) — Author "Hard War on the Southern Plains" — 2 copie
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Autumn 2010 (2010) — Author "Louisiana Quagmire" — 1 copia

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Data di nascita
1949-02-23
Sesso
male
Nazionalità
USA
Luogo di nascita
USA

Utenti

Recensioni

Summary: A day by day account of the final trip Abraham Lincoln took for sixteen days at City Point, Virginia, the headquarters of Ulysses S. Grant, and how this transformed Lincoln.

It was Lincoln’s longest stay away from the White House during his presidency.. It didn’t start out that way. Lincoln, accompanied by his wife Mary, had planned a two day visit to Grant’s headquarters, beginning on March 24, 1865. Lee’s forces defending Richmond were slowly weakening as Grant extended his lines. The hope was that the decisive breakthrough ending the war was near. Phil Sheridan was rejoining Grant from the Shenandoah valley. Sherman, further off, was marching from the south.

Lincoln arrived as a war-weary president wanting to encourage Grant to finish the job. He described himself saying, “I am very unwell” and he looked it to observers who knew him. He ended up extending his stay for sixteen days and left a different man both physically and in outlook. Noah Andre Trudeau traces Lincoln’s day by day itinerary against the backdrop of the final days of the Civil War, filling in gaps in the somewhat sketchy outlines of Lincoln’s stay at City Point.

Perhaps the event that changed Lincoln’s plans was Grants repulse of the surprise attack on Fort Stedman on the second day. Grant realized that Lee was fatally weakened and further extended his own lines to the southwest and called on Sheridan to attack on Lee’s right flank. Lincoln attended the command summit a few days later that included Sherman as they readied the attack, encouraging them that “Your success is my success.”

As Grant moved west to be at the crucial point of attack, Lincoln was left with little to do but ride and walk, receive visits and visit field hospitals. Unwittingly, he became a war correspondent, passing news from Grant along to Washington, where his reports were disseminated to the public. In so doing, Lincoln broke new ground in media communications, changing the expectations of a president as public communicator to the nation.

Meanwhile, Trudeau also introduces us to the instabilty and vanity of Mary Lincoln and her dustups with Julia Grant. In the end, she returned early while Lincoln stayed on. The portrait of the First Lady is unflattering, suggesting what Lincoln and others who were around her suffered.

Trudeau covers Lincoln’s visits to Peterburg and Richmond, including the scant provisions for security on the first of these trips. A sniper could easily have ended his presidency right there. Instead, we see a president deeply moved both by war’s devastation and the joyful reception he received from emancipated former slaves.

Lincoln finally departs on April 8. One of the most moving descriptions in the book is Lincoln’s visit to the hospitals for each division, literally speaking to every wounded soldier, some who would die within days while others would carry memories of Lincolns attention and encouragement. Throughout the narrative, we hear of Lincoln’s concern to end the bloodshed. His visit reflected his awareness of the precious sacrifice these and many others had made. This included Confederate soldiers who Lincoln would welcome back to the Union without retribution.

And here we glimpse the transformation that Trudeau so skillfully traces. Lincoln came a weary commander-in-chief. He left anticipating the end of hostilities which came the next day. He returned to Washington committed to the task of reunifying a nation and embarking on a new era in the treatment of former slaves. He was physically restored, filled with a sense of fulfilled purpose, and ready for the new challenge of restoring the Union as a peace president. But first an evening’s entertainment at Ford’s Theater…

Trudeau offers us a well-rounded account of the sixteen days at City Point and how they changed Lincoln. Trudeau also reveals to us the depth of character of Lincoln, battered but resilient, firm in resolve, enthusiastic in support for Grant, and tender with the wounded. We see a man capable of growth as he meets former slaves. And we see a man with a far-reaching, magnanimous vision, one that would die with him.
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Segnalato
BobonBooks | Dec 11, 2023 |
Noah Andre Trudeau's Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea was a short book based upon a variety of AAR's, diary, and journal entries.

The book highlights as the title indicates the period from the capture of Atlanta to the end of the capturing of Savannah. The book highlights big picture leadership from the perspective of Union and Confederate Generals Sherman, Wheeler. Joseph Johnston, P G.T Beauregard, Bragg, Kilpatrick, among others.

The book is almost a day by day accounting of the campaign and goes into great detail of the unit action, foraging details, and Sherman's continued evolution of total war and bringing the war to the Southern people and the destruction of the Southern infrastructure including the destruction of railroads and public buildings. Sherman is often vilified for this period, but ultimately, he fed and supplied his troops by living of the people of Georgia and South Carolina while effectively removing him and his troops with communication with General Grant and the Lincoln administration until the drive was almost complete.

While some don't like the structure and style of the book, I found it to be an interesting and effective organization. Which shed great light on campaign specifics as well as general lack of Confederate resources and leadership at this point of the war.

Not the biggest or most detailed bok at 548 pages of reading it was nonetheless a solid 4-star book on the subject, and I would recommend it to all.
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dsha67 | 7 altre recensioni | Apr 7, 2023 |
As I'm neither a professional nor an amateur historian, I cannot critique the content of Trudeau's Southern Storm. As a native Georgian, I've long been subject to the animosity accorded to Sherman in the South to this day, and I'm glad to have finally learned more about the man and his military conquest.

I have two criticisms. First, the author and editor employ an unusual--even willfully obtuse--system of notes. There are no references on any page of the text. Rather, quotes must be looked up in a Notes section in the back, which is organized by page number. For example, the Notes section lists eight quotes on page 406, with citations; yet there are significantly more quotes on that page. Each page is set in rather small type, so there is a lot of ground to cover. A standard (numbered) note system would have worked much better; even more, footnotes rather than endnotes should always be used, as the latter are vestigial appendages of the difficult days of typesetting, long since eradicated with modern word processing software.

The second criticism is minor: there is a helpful "Union Forces Roster" followed by a "Confederate Forces Roster" on pages 549-563. This would be better placed at the beginning, akin to a dramatis personnae in a drama. Non-specialist readers would thus have a better sense of who is on what side from the beginning.

Five stars from me.
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Segnalato
RAD66 | 7 altre recensioni | Nov 12, 2020 |
I höstas var jag i Richmond i Virginia. Det är en med amerikanska mått mätt liten stad, men en av de historiskt viktigare: det var i Virginia som sydstaterna hade sin huvudstad, med ett eget vitt hus, numera gömt bakom ett sjukhus tillsammans med en modern museibyggnad över inbördeskriget (som visar upp gammal utrustning, regementesfanor och andra prylar; förhoppningsvis mer intressant för amerikaner än utlänningar). Efter besöket där fick jag med mig Noah Andre Trudeaus biografi Robert E. Lee. Lee hade ju länge ungefär samma status som Karl XII haft i Sverige, centralfigur för en viss typ av nationalism, full med mytbildning kring sig och en aura av tragisk hjälte som ett tag lyckades stå upp mot övermakten men till slut dukade under. För Lee har detta bland annat resulterat i att man gärna gjort honom lite mer politisk korrekt än han egentligen var (han tycks inte ha varit någon större förkämpe för slaveriet, men han ärvde slavar som han frigav något senare än testamentet föreskrev), och gärna överdrivit hans förtjänster som general.

Det senare lät sig speciellt göras eftersom man dessutom hade flera lätt tillgängliga förklaringar till varför en så stor general till slut kunde misslyckas; förutom nordstaternas uppenbara materiella och demografiska överlägsenhet så kom ju de flesta av Lees stora segrar till i samarbete med den stupade Stonewall Jackson. Att dennes död var en särskild olycka menade redan Lee själv, och Trudeau är fräck nog att påpeka på att detta i själva verket var en svaghet hot överbefälhavaren: Lee förlitade sig för mycket på vissa underlydande, lade sig sällan i för att korrigera dem, men var i efterhand redo att lägga skulden på dem, även om han i övrigt var en tämligen ridderlig herre.

Biografin är annars ganska lagom tjock för någon som vill ha en överblick; den håller sig tämligen strikt till att berätta om Lees göranden och tänkande, och även om tyngdpunkten ligger på krigsåren och kräver vissa förkunskaper om dessa så förlorar den sig sällan i detaljer om slagordningar eller bataljskildringar. De kartor som illustrerar kapitlen är tyvärr lite svårlästa, men annars finns inte mycket att anmärka på här. Om boken kanske är aldrig riktigt tar sig an Lees taktiska tänkande är den desto tydligare med hur författaren ser på hans strategi: den nordstatsarmé som han hade att ta sig an, ledd av diverse mer eller mindre inkompetenta personer innan den mer robuste och hänsynslöse Grant tog över, måste besegras så att nordstaterna skulle bli rädda nog att söka fred. Därmed var det nödvändigt att ständigt söka offensiva lösningar, även om de segrar som trots allt vanns alltid var otillräckliga.

Trudeaus bok motsvarade tämligen väl mina förhoppningar: en kortare biografi som inte förlorade sig i vare sig sydstatsnostalgi eller alltför hård kritik och som gav i alla fall en rudimentär insikt in i huvudet på den man som mer än någon annan fått förkroppsliga bilden av den ridderliga södern (låt vara att han egentligen var mer av en pragmatiker när det kom till militära frågor). Han stred för ett land som nu kan tyckas ha varit dömt på förhand, och det med större framgångar än vad som kan tyckas rimligt. Om man vill se på historien utifrån strikt utilitaristiska linjer är det tveksamt om hans insats kan betecknas som positiv. Själv ansåg han troligen att han gjorde sin plikt, och så gott han kunde. Man behöver inte gilla honom, men det är svårt att inte respektera honom.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
andejons | 1 altra recensione | Apr 13, 2019 |

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Statistiche

Opere
14
Opere correlate
21
Utenti
1,794
Popolarità
#14,342
Voto
4.0
Recensioni
25
ISBN
38
Lingue
1
Preferito da
1

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