With My Face to the Enemy: Perspectives on the Civil War - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399147373 ISBN 13: 9780399147371

Publisher: Putnam Pub Group, 2001

Synopsis

With My Face to the Enemy is a provocative and wide-ranging anthology of essays on the Civil War - America's defining struggle and the first modern war in history.

In thirty-five illuminating essays it examines the war from the perspectives critical to its outcome - the larger-than-life personalities of the important players from Lincoln to Lee, and the national strategies and key battle tactics that shaped the four-year-long crisis. Contributors include the leading lights of Civil War scholarship: James M. McPherson, Stephen W. Sears, Gary W. Gallagher, David Herbert Donald and twenty others.

James M. McPherson's essays ponder three diverse, yet fascinating subjects: Abraham Lincoln's use of language and its role in his victory; Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee's failed Southern strategies; and Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs as a reflection of his superlative generalship. Stephen W. Sears, in four essays, describes the daring flanking manoeuvres of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorville, and presents the last word on Lee's infamous 'lost order', among other topics.

Other highlights include David Herbert Donald on Lincoln's early command; Gary W. Gallagher on Lee's record before his ascension as a Southern icon; John Bowers on Chickamauga; Noah Andre Trudeau on the battle of the Wilderness; Thomas Fleming on West Point, and much more.

About this title

Review:

"A gem: well-written, engaging and sure to make a significant contribution to the already voluminous Civil War literature" (Kirkus Reviews)

"By touching a variety of episodes as well as figures, the volume should prove irresistible" (Booklist)

"These new insights...add to one's understanding of the war" (Washington Times)

"Answers the most intriguing questions: How did a rebel courier happen to drop General Lee's battle plan wrapped around three cigars? And why did it take so long for the richer and stronger North to win?" (US News and World Report)

Book Description:

A brilliant collection of essays on the most vital conflict in American history, written by renowned historians and presented by the editor of the acclaimed What If?

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0399147373
• ISBN 13: 9780399147371
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 522
• Editor: Donald David Herbert, Cowley Robert