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Rating: 
Summary: Obscure battle . . . Good book.
Review: "Forrest Gump" author Winston Groom turned his talents towards non-fiction to write this tale about the climatic battle of Nashville.The events of the Nashville campaign aren't known much in history- General John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of the Tennessee moved north in the winter of 1864 in an attempt to threaten the supply line for the armies of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman, leaving behind troops under the command of General George Thomas to face off with Hood's beleaguered soldiers, moved south across Georgia. Hood's troops suffered through the winter and were soundly defeated in battle when Thomas decided to move his army out to fight. The Battle of Nashville and Sherman's march through Georgia were the crippling blows that dramatically ended the Civil War. Groom does a good job telling the story with more of an eye towards narrative than towards analysis. Quite readable, very good tale.
Rating: 
Summary: History Comes To Life
Review: As a high school history teacher and Civil War Buff, I am always looking for ways to bring the deeds and accomplishments of history to life for an audience with open hostility for the topic. This book accomplishes this next-to-impossible task. Groom writes with the prose of a novelist (no surprise), the research of a scholar (surprise)and a genuine love for and interest in the subject matter. One of the most fascinating non-fiction books I have even read, complete with excellent maps and interesting photographs.
Rating:
Summary: History Comes To Life
Review: As a high school history teacher and Civil War Buff, I am always looking for ways to bring the deeds and accomplishments of history to life for an audience with open hostility for the topic. This book accomplishes this next-to-impossible task. Groom writes with the prose of a novelist (no surprise), the research of a scholar (surprise)and a genuine love for and interest in the subject matter. One of the most fascinating non-fiction books I have even read, complete with excellent maps and interesting photographs.
Rating:
Summary: A tragic and compelling story of a little known battle
Review: For the most fact-filled book on the Battle of Franklin, one must turn to "Five Tragic Hours" by McDonough and Connelly. But for the best written narrative on the battle, Groom's book has no peer. In the same way that "The Killer Angels" gets inside the personalities at Gettysburg, so Groom takes us alongside the Confederate campfires at Spring Hill, puts into the frantic line of march with the Union army, and allows us to taste the smoke in the flame-shot darkness of Franklin. At last this unknown and underappreciated battle has a chronicle worthy of its significance.
Rating:
Summary: Good work on a less famous campaign
Review: Groom the novelist shows in this quick read of a remarkable civil war story. The details are present to please military history purists and the author's ability to weave an excellent story from the facts will make this enjoyable to the casual civil war reader. Good beach or holiday book because you will not want to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent history about later civil war battles.
Review: I would have rated this book much higher had it not been for two reasons: 1. It took almost half the book for it to get really engrossing and 2. At times I had the feeling, especially in the first half, that the author favored the South and so was biased in some of his reporting. However, once the story got to the Battle of Franklin the narrative had a quick flow to it and was so compelling I could not put it down. Some of the gruesome depiction of war dead is so vivid that even a week later it sticks in my mind. I also question some of Mr. Groom's beliefs about what happened. At one point he makes a statement that leads you to believe that 1. the war was a big mistake and 2. the North was the aggressor. The statement is that "the war, by far the most destructive to human life of all America's wars, produced 600,000 casualties while freeing 3 million slaves." If Mr. Groom thinks the sole reason for the war was to free the slaves and not to preserve the union he is sadly mistaken. I think intellectually he knows better, but that old bias seems to constantly get the better of him. Still I would call this one of the great books about the war, in spite of the criticisms, because when all is said and done, it is still a great read. It ranks up there with books like "The Killer Angels."
Rating:
Summary: Compelling reading. Very personal book.
Review: My great-great grandfather fought in these battles, so this book was heart-breaking to read. It has been a month since I read it and my mind is still filled with "what if's". The blunders were so huge, the courage so magnificent. I thought the author did a superb job of trying to get into the minds of the key players; I found the book very personal.
Rating:
Summary: Hood's last hurrah - Gen. George Thomas's vindication
Review: Shrouds of Glory does an efficent job of laying out John Bell Hood's last hurrah at a little known, but crucial battle of the Civil War. What may not be so well known is that the Battle of Nashville in December of 1864 was also the vindication of the Union General George "Pap" Thomas, (who by the way was originally from Virginia). Linclon & Grant had their doubts about Thomas's waiting game at Nashville. The orders to relieve him of command were on the the way when Thomas unleashed the Union attack and the resulting disaster to the Confederate Army of Tennesee vindicated his patience. Sherman said the Battle of Nashville was the only battle of the Civil War where a whole army ceased to exist after the fight. If Hood was desperate to make a break through, and he was, as Groom has laid out. Thomas was just as determined to close the door once and for all. I appreciated how this book laid out the events leading up to that battle. Just as a side note, one of the Union regiments at Nashville was the Ohio 182nd Infantry. In that regiment was my great-grandfather, Sgt. George Debolt Newcomer.
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