1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Civil War

Rating:
Summary: HOOKER DID NOT COURT THE HOOKERS
Review: ANY HISTORIAN WHO CONFUSES THE NAME OF A GREAT GENERAL WITH THE ANCIENT PLYING OF HUMAN FLESH, AKA, HOOKERS, SHOULD BE FIRED FROM HIS POST AND REDUCED TO THE ENGAGEMENT WITH SADAM HUSSEIN. PERHAPS THE CONTEMPORY WORLD WOULD BETTER SUIT HIS KNOWLEDGE BASE.

Rating:
Summary: 1001 Things/Civil War
Review: I must admit that the seemingly conflicting reviews here encouraged me to read this book, and I discovered that the negative reviewers did not take the larger view that the author obviously did, and look at the war as a cost to both sides, and a tragedy and loss to both the North and South. (thus a battle is both a victory and a defeat...)Their comments seem mean-spirited and obviously not thought out; nor was the preface read by some of them! This author has done a difficult task- reducing the war into 1001 things- extremely well in my view; the biographical sketches were insightful and poetic and all of the battle descriptions were vivid and exciting. Excerpts from diaries and military papers and miniscule details show the depth of knowledge and the scope of research of this author. I would recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A Poorly Written Book
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. The errors were evident at the outset. in 124 he cited Big Bethel as "a victory that helped briefly preserve that part of the Union for the Confederacy" and then in 127 says "On June 10 1861, General Benjamin Butler (q.v.) ...ordered a poorly conceived surprise attack against a Rebel Outpost at Big Bethel. The troops were repulsed with heavy losses." Which was it? A victory or a defeat? Worse, he finishes describing the Southern victory at First Manassas (First Bull Run) and says "For the South it was a Pyrrhic victory, for it tended to prove that one Rebel could whip ten Yankees..." For heaven's sake! This man is an academic and an historian and he doesn't even know what a Pyrrhic victory is!!! Even the style of the book ( boldface major ideas with no indentation and indent those numbers that are asides to the main point) is violated throughout and provide an eyesore to the reader. It looks like this book was rushed to print without an editor. In sum, definitely not worth the price, and there are many better introductions to this watershed in our history.

Rating:
Summary: 1001 Thanks
Review: I wrote this book and like it fairly well! I am irked by the fact that most people do NOT read prefaces! Many of the criticisms I see in the reviews of 1001 Things are explained in the preface--a quick read would have avoided much confusion. Please, when you read books, do the author a courtesy and read the preface. Much is often revealed there. Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: 1001 Thanks
Review: Thanks to 2/14 "Sad" Review for piquing my curiosity, I got a copy and found Vandiver's 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Civil War to be a lot of fun, breaches notwithstanding! In fact, I checked the entry "Sad" complains about with the source, Francis Miller's outstanding 10-volumn series, Photographic History of the Civil War. Miller too has General Sherman leaning on the "breach" of the gun! Misspelling aside, the book is a good one, and I am grateful to a scholar of Vandiver's stature for taking the time to do a popular work of this nature. 1001 Thanks!