Rating: 
Summary: fascinating and well researched
Review: An excellent work by an author who obviously has a tremendous love and fascination for American history. The book starts slowly with the family histories of the two main characters - Chamberlain and Oates. He does an excellent job of introducing the reader to two completely different character with completely different backgrounds without taking sides or displaying predjudices. Chamberlain, the hard working, devout, formally educated New Englander projected against the self educated rambler from Alabama. He then shows how the paths these men take lead them both to that infamous day on Little Round Top. The author also does a good job of setting the stage so the reader understands how easily the course could have taken another direction - Longstreet's counter-march and delayed attack allowing the Union to reinforce the critical position and maintain control of the good ground setting the stage for the ill-fated Pickett's Charge. I think that the only area lacking in the book is the Post Civil War period in the South. While Perry spends time explaining the obvious differences between the Democrats and the reconstructionist Republicans, I do not think enough effort was given to Oates' wavering political positions and how he was influenced. All in all, one of the best works on a very demanding and focused subject.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating and well researched
Review: An excellent work by an author who obviously has a tremendous love and fascination for American history. The book starts slowly with the family histories of the two main characters - Chamberlain and Oates. He does an excellent job of introducing the reader to two completely different character with completely different backgrounds without taking sides or displaying predjudices. Chamberlain, the hard working, devout, formally educated New Englander projected against the self educated rambler from Alabama. He then shows how the paths these men take lead them both to that infamous day on Little Round Top. The author also does a good job of setting the stage so the reader understands how easily the course could have taken another direction - Longstreet's counter-march and delayed attack allowing the Union to reinforce the critical position and maintain control of the good ground setting the stage for the ill-fated Pickett's Charge. I think that the only area lacking in the book is the Post Civil War period in the South. While Perry spends time explaining the obvious differences between the Democrats and the reconstructionist Republicans, I do not think enough effort was given to Oates' wavering political positions and how he was influenced. All in all, one of the best works on a very demanding and focused subject.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful dual-biography of two men who made history!
Review: Even though Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates came from totally different backgrounds, they seem to have become more and more similar as their lives progressed. On July 2, 1863, they faced one another in one of the most crucial battles in American history. Both earned reputations as brave officers in combat during the Civil War, and both became involved with politics following the war's end. I've been a Civil War buff nearly all my life, but at first I didn't expect to enjoy another dual-biography (they usually try to cram too much info in one volume). I was pleasantly surprised by this well-written and well-researched book which should be required reading for any Civil War buff. It doesn't go overboard praising Joshua Chamberlain's war record as other biographies have done, and William Oates, one of the most overlooked Confederate officers, finally got the attention he deserved. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Book!!!
Review: I was impressed by this book. Although not a civil war buff, I have always been curious about the war, but never able to appreciate the huge sweep of events. This book does two things. It makes understandable the battle of Gettysburg and its precedents, and it reminds us that the men who fought there and survived continued to live for many years, with other lives than four years of war. It does one other thing. It shows us that man fought man, one winning, one losing, but together. I'm both saddened and heartened by their stories, now far away and long ago.
Rating:
Summary: The Importance of Philosophy
Review: In reviewing Golay's "To Gettysburg and Beyond," I bemoaned the artificial nature of comparative biographies. Ultimately, I argued that the disreputable life of the rebellious Edward Porter Alexander was not worthy to be compared with that of the faithful Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. I still stand by those claims.Once again, a comparative study has been published featuring Chamberlain and a Confederate adversary. This book, however, is much more worthy of an investment of your time and attention for at least two important reasons. First, unlike Golay, Mr. Perry has selected a worthy individual to compare with Chamberlain. Unlike many of his Southern compatriots, Oates was not a former high ranking official of the US federal government (e.g.: John Breckinridge or Jefferson Davis), nor was he a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point or a former US Army officer (e.g.: Davis, Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, Bragg, Alexander, Ewell, A.P. Hill, Garnett, Pickett, Armistead, et al.). Thus, Oates did not compound his acts of sedition with the violation of sacred oathes. Second, Mr. Perry's text is not so much a comparative biography as it is a comparison of the philosophies and circumstances that led these two, brave men to heroically oppose one another on Little Round Top. Following St Origin, the Church has long argued: "Lex orandi; Lex credendi." Mr. Perry makes clear that the opposite is also true: beliefs can lead to actions. Right beliefs lead to great, heroic actions (a la Chamberlain), and flawed philosophies lead to tragically flawed actions (a la Oates). Mr. Perry's real contribution is not so much that he exegetes the lives of two brave men for us to emulate. His real contribution is that he demonstrates the power and value of our beliefs.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written; new look at old subject
Review: Like another reader, I was put off by a few editorial glitches such as the one about the "Louisiana-Florida" state line. Nevertheless, this book offers a different angle on Chamberlain, a good look at Oates, and a nice summation of the always curious and sometimes eerie similarities between the two men. The book is strongest in its second half, that is, in the story of the two men after their meeting on Little Round Top. It is enjoyable to read and very thoughtful in its evaluations of the men, their motivations, and their times.
Rating:
Summary: A solidly done dual biography of two American heroes.
Review: On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, the left end of the Union line came under attack by the right end of the Confederate line. On the slope of Little Round Top, the very last Union regiment in the line, the 20th Maine, commanded by Joshua Chamberlain, desperately fought off repeated assaults by the 15th Alabama regiment, commanded by William Oates. It is quite likely the Gettysburg battle could have been won for General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia if the Alabama troops had successfully flanked the Union position and gotten into the rear of General Meade's Army of the Potomac. For the Federals, it was a close run thing. The 20th Maine prevailed only when, after running out of ammunition, Chamberlain ordered the famous bayonet charge that finally routed the exhausted Southern troops - a feat of arms thrillingly depicted in the 1993 film "Gettysburg". CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY is a double biography of both Oates and Chamberlain painted in broad brushstrokes. For each, it spans the time from birth, through the formative period of young manhood, then the army career, concluding with the post-war years of public service, and finally death. Interestingly enough, Chamberlain and Oates faced off only once during the Civil War conflict, and only twice in life. The second instance, when both were old men, involved a squabble over where the 15th Alabama's regimental marker could properly be placed on the Gettysburg Battlefield Monument. Chamberlain won that round also, as the marker was never erected. For the Civil War buff seeking detailed accounts of the major battles, this is not the book to read. Only those major engagements at which Chamberlain and/or Oates were present are described, and then only to the degree that establishes the "big picture", or otherwise provides the details of each man's participation in the larger conflict. For example, the author, Mark Perry, gives a reasonably detailed 7-page overview of Gettysburg's first day, then provides an 11-page narrative summary of the Little Round Top confrontation between our two heroes. Pickett's Charge is relegated to four paragraphs over two pages, and the battle for Culp's Hill is mentioned not at all - the latter rarely is, it seems. This volume is extensively researched, clearly written, and straightforwardly told. Maybe too straightforwardly told. You'll not find herein any of the wry wit exhibited by Shelby Foote in his marvelous Civil War trilogy. (I could continue reading Foote forever. I've had my fill of Perry with this one, relatively short book.) Nevertheless, this is a sober, balanced accounting of both men's careers that does not become overly slavish in its admiration of either. A solid "thumbs up" achievement
Rating:
Summary: No Hero Worship, Just Heroes....
Review: One cannot gain an understanding of the American Civil War, (as well as the periods preceding it and following it), unless one eventually learns to see it through the eyes of the people who lived it. This book is presents the reader with just such an opportunity. The author follows the lives of two men from two completely different societies, through their youth, their adolescence and young adulthood, through the War and to the time where their paths cross in the battle on Little Round Top in July 1863, through the remainder of the war and its aftermath, right into old age. Each is affected by the society which surrounds him, each man embodies the best and the worst of those societies and each is motivated to fight in their defense. There's no hero worship here; each man is presented as being quite human. Yet, each man remains quite likeable in his own way. There's some surprises as well. Chamberlain was played by Jeff Daniels in the movie "Gettysburg". In that movie Chamberlain gives an impassioned speech to his troops about being "...an army out to set other men free..." The real Chamberlain wasn't a friend of slavery but he was no abolitionist either. Oates, for his part, (and much to my surpise), was one of the first officers to officially lobby the Confederate Congress for the enlistment of slaves early in 1863. (He was unsuccessful in his attempt). If I haven't given the book 5 stars it's because the author's writing style is a bit on the ponderous side. Nonetheless, this is the kind of book that you'll need to have in your library if your interest in the period is a serious one. Go experience it for yourself!
Rating:
Summary: A Prime Example of What the Civil War Won for All of Us
Review: The Civil War was, in some ways, our own clash of cultures that ended up with us having a stronger, and more philisophically harmonic country than we had then. After the war we no longer were "Those United States" but "These United States". While it took longer (and still has not taken root) for some Southern areas to accept that they have changed because of the war, this book outlines in a fascinating fashion why the American Dream was won in 1865. Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates are both opposing personalities. Chamberlain was a professor, Oates a laborer. Chamberlain was a respected fellow before the war. Oates was much less.. even going into hiding at one point from the law. What they had in common was a belief that they had gone as far as they could in their lives before the war. Chamberlain was forever going to be a professor. Oates forever a laborer. Both faced each other in Gettysburg. While Chamberlain was the hero of Little Top in that battle, Oates eventually had a longer and more productive politcal life than Chamberlain. Neither of these men won their positions by birth, wealth, or by the inner workings of a political machine. They won their positions by hard work, and the admiration of their men in battle and the people they fought for. While it may have been possible prior to the Civil War for these men to have done so (Abraham Lincoln is a prime example) the fact is that the Southern philosophy was beaten in 1865, and the Northern philosophy of hard work, and position by trust and admiration rather than birth, and wealth won out and both sides reaped benefits and still are from that day.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Parallel
Review: Very well researched..unique because it looks at two very different (and similiar) generals. Also contains a pretty good overview of significant battles of the war.
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