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Rating: 
Summary: Great book!
Review: I don't know where Russell Beatie has been hiding for so many years, but it must have been working on this project. The size and scope of his work (which is going to be many volumes) is daunting, but he is up for the task if this first volume is any indication. The writing is very clear and lucid, the level of detail just right for a top-down study, and his use of manuscript material is judicious. His crisp portraits of the primary leaders are outstanding, as are his battle descriptions. I received this book as a birthday present, but almost wish I could brag of having bought it myself. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book on the Army of the Potomac
Review: I ordered the Army of the Potomac from Amazon (as I do all my books now). I love reading about McClellan and the major field army of the Eastern Theatre, so when I found out about the book I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I don't know for sure what I was expecting, but I was not anticipating such a sweeping, almost magesterial yet detailed treatment of the formation of that army and the intriguing history of its top brass. I should warn readers it is a long read (more than 600 pages), and it only gets past First Bull Run! There are more volumes to come. This book is not a battle study type of book. Although there are two or three chapters dealing with Bull Run, they offer top down strategic glimpses of what was taking place, and always from the Union point of what based up what the commanders knew or believed at the time. That can be confusing, but when you get the feel for what the author is doing, it works well. It reminded me of Albert Castel's "Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign" book, which was written in the first person. It takes a while to get used to it. Overall this is a wonderful book. Beattie examines the entire officer corps from their social backgrounds, military experience and beliefs, political ties and connections, etc. I did not find anything that really surprised me, but he fleshed out a lot of information and helped fill in gaps in my knowledge of that period of the war, which is almost always glossed over in other books. The maps by Civil War cartographer Blake Magner are good and there are lots of them, and the notes and bibliography are both required reading. I concur wholeheartedly with what others on this page have written.
Rating:
Summary: The beginning of what could be a very important series
Review: I was skeptical of this book when I first picked it up. I mean the book only covers the Army of the Potomac from November 1860 to September 1861 and yet is a good 600 pages long by a writer for all intensive purposes is an unknown. I was half expecting a very dry read but boy was I wrong. Instead I got one of the best Civil War books I've read in a while.
The book is intended to be the first in a series of books covering the history of the Army of the Potomac. This volume covers the formation of the army in the early days of the war.
I think one of the things I really enjoyed about this book is it dealt with areas, details and people that few other books deal with. How does one create an army? How do you get these regiments from the north down to Washington which is almost cut off due to the city of Baltimore? The problems were immense.
Attempting to solve these problems were men whom we have seldom heard much about or if we have we have heard about them it's mostly from later in the war for other things. This book deals with men like Benjamin Butler, Charles Stone, Robert Patterson and Elmer Ellsworth. Footnotes in many other books, here they take center stage alongside more familiar names like Fitz-John Porter, Irvin McDowell, Winfield Scott and of course George McClellan as they do their part in securing Washington DC and helping in the early creation of what would become the Army of the Potomac.
Russel Beatie definately has written a great book here that I think most Civil War enthusiasts will greatly enjoy. It has wonderful detail and yet is never slow or dry. I really can't wait to read the other volumes in the series. I think once completed it will be an important part of anyone's Civil War book collection.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book,not a great one
Review: I was somewhat disappointed in this book. Mr. Beatie is a fine researcher, but not a great writer. I didn't like that he quoted verbatim long conversations as they appeared in memoirs many years later. That got a bit old. More paraphrasing would have been preferable.
Also, although the examples of history are sometimes useful, I didn't like many of the "off message" moments where Beatie talked in detail about how the ancients or Napoleon addressed a particular issue germane to the development of the Army of the Potomac.
Also, there are a lot of choppy sentences. The book needed a better edit job.
I'm hoping for better from Volume II. The main redemning aspect of Vol. I is that it covers a period rarely examined in this detail. It's good to break some new ground. I just don't think this book did so in a highly effective manner.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but...
Review: I was surprised to see so many 5 star ratings for this volume. Sections of it were very good, and there was a nice use of unusual sources within text. What was disappointing however was the unevenness of the structure, with chapters jumping between straight narrative and more technical discussions. This did not work for me, and some of the last few chapters detailing the bureau heads, cavalry etc were just plain dreary. Beatie drew attention to his wish to emulate Freeman's Lees Lieutenants, but he needed a tougher editor to keep him focussed on the wood and not the trees.
Rating: 
Summary: The Army of the Potomac : The beginning of the begining!
Review: Russel Beatie has done an excellent job with his first volume on the long and storied history of the Army of the Potomac! In this first volume he seeks to do for the greatest of the Union armies what Douglas Southall Freeman did for the fabled Army of Northern Virginia.
It is probable that Beatie's book will sell far fewer copies than did Dr. Freeman's classic work. However, the book is well worth pouring over its detailed pages as lawyer Beatie sketches the first confusing months of the Civil War from the Union viewpoint.
As someone who has read Civil War literature for many years I confess that my knowledge of the Army of the Potomac is vastly inferior to what I know of Lee's legions. Beatie is strong on character sketches of such men as Winfield Scott, Irvin McDowell and the engimatic and controversial George Brinton McClellan.
For these sketches alone the book is valuable. His battle descriptions are succint but well done. The maps are helpful to the text and easy to read.
I noticed a few typos and factual errors but am much impressed by the long years of Beatie's resources. His bibliograpy of first person eyewitness acocunts and unit histories is vast.
I look forward to volume two which will pick up the story from September, 1861. I am in awe of his research and dedication to getting this book published!
Rating:
Summary: Start of an epic
Review: The AOP is one of the storied armies in American history. This book is the first, of a series, that fully tells that story. Very detailed, fully documented but reads like a novel giving information and fun at the same time.
The advantage of this treatment is that we see things as they saw them. Rumor has to be considered and we understand why it was thought that 100,000 men were marching on Washington. Ed Beares is another author that has mastered a detailed redaable history. This compares very well with his work.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book on the Army of the Potomac
Review: The book is well organized and clearly written. Mr. Beatie gives a new (and detailed) look at the origins of the Civil War from the Union perspective. The pantheon of Confederate leaders are known to us all, Beatie gives the Union leaders a voice. I found his detailed research, especially as it related to G.B.McCellan particularly insightful. He does not follow the crowd in vilifying McCellan, rather he presents a balanced appraisal of the man-- his many weaknesses as well as his magnetism that drew people to him. I am looking forward to volume two!
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