The Civil War and the World War II stand as the two great
cataclysms of American history. They were our two costliest wars,
with well over a million casualties suffered in each. And they were
transforming moments in our history as well, times when the life of
the nation and the great experiment in democracy--government of the
people, by the people, for the people--seemed to hang in the
balance. Now, in War Comes Again, eleven eminent
historians--including three Pulitzer Prize winners, all veterans of
the Second World War--offer an illuminating comparison of these two
epic events in our national life.
The range of essays here is remarkable, the level of insight
consistently high, and the quality of the writing is superb. For
instance, Stephen Ambrose, the bestselling author of D-Day, June
6th, 1944, offers an intriguing comparison of the two great
military leaders of each war--Grant and Eisenhower. Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian Robert V. Bruce takes a revealing look at
the events that foreshadowed the two wars. Gerald Linderman, author
of Embattled Courage, examines the two wars from the point of view
of the combat soldier. And Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., describes how
both Lincoln and FDR went around strict observance of the
Constitution in order to preserve the Constitution. There is, in
addition, a fascinating discussion of the crucial role played by
spying during the two wars, by Peter Maslowski; a look at the
diplomacy of Lincoln and Roosevelt, by Howard Jones; and essays on
the impact of the wars on women and on African Americans, by D'Ann
Campbell, Richard Jensen, and Ira Berlin. In perhaps the most
gripping piece in the book, Michael C.C. Adams offers an
unflinching look at war's destructiveness, as he argues that the
evils we associate with "bad wars" (such as Vietnam) are equally
true of "good wars." And finally, in perhaps the most provocative
essay in the book, Russell Weigley, one of America's most eminent
military historians, maps the evolution of American attitudes
toward war to our present belief that the only acceptable war is
one that is short, inexpensive, and certain of victory. Would any
great commander, Weigley asks, would a Lee or a Grant or a
Marshall, refuse to fight unless he knew he couldn't lose? "Is not
a willingness to run risks for the sake of cherished values and
interests close to the heart of what defines greatness in a human
being or in a nation?"
Another Pulitzer winner and World War II veteran, Don E.
Fehrenbacher, concludes War Comes Again with a very personal look
at two common soldiers who have no monuments, who have not been
mentioned in previous histories, but who point at the essence of
these two wars and are "embedded in the very structure of the
enduring nation and the world we live in."
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