A damn good book detailing the professional and personal relationship of Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman during the CivilA damn good book detailing the professional and personal relationship of Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman during the Civil War. This book does a decent job of giving you the basic facts - it doesn’t go into overly annoying detail and yet it doesn’t just skim over the important stuff. It’s a good introduction for readers and armchair historians of the Civil War. I also admire that this book does not whitewash the darker aspects of the character of these men - such as Sherman’s view of slavery and African-Americans in general.
Since Grant has been in the news lately due to his statue being toppled, I found it fitting to read this. For all of his faults - and he was an American man, God knows he had plenty - he was still the embodiment of what we want this country to be - never backing down in the face of personal defeat, and to keep on when the going is too rough....more
A fantastic, cohesive, and extremely concise history of D-Day and the push into Normandy. I commend Holland’s research and ability to tell the story. A fantastic, cohesive, and extremely concise history of D-Day and the push into Normandy. I commend Holland’s research and ability to tell the story. He focuses not just on the battles and planning, but the personal stories of brief humanity amidst the chaotic carnage of WWII. This will go down as one of the preeminent works over D-Day. A engaging read....more
“The government made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it.” - a L“The government made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it.” - a Lakota chief.
Well. This was a depressing read. But highly necessary. Peter Cozzens offers a sweeping history of the Indian Wars, from both sides. That’s rare in a history book. I cannot say it is biased. It definitely shows the atrocities that the American military (and civilian settlers) did to the Indians. But it also shows the brutality and desperation of the tribes fighting for survival.
So many great anecdotes fill this book - ranging from the comical (an Army sergeant providing his men an orgy on the plains) to the vastly hard to read (an Indian woman killing her baby and then herself before the American troops kill them both). Cozzens writes well too, as the book feels like a work of narrative fiction. The historical cast of characters feels as alive as they can be.
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