The battles of the Civil War become background scenery in this
long, sober examination of the mind and personality of "Cutup"
Sherman, 19th-century American military icon. William Tecumseh
Sherman's father named him after a famous Indian chief. At age
nine, after his father died, he was taken into the politically
powerful Ewing family of Lancaster, Ohio. He sailed through West
Point, married a Ewing daughter, drifted through a mediocre
military career and a disastrous business one. He returned to the
Army but suffered a near nervous breakdown in the early months of
the Civil War. Then, after he and Grant won the Battle of
Vicksburg, Sherman transformed himself into the most successful and
ruthless American general of his age. He was also an outspoken
racist, a compulsive womanizer, an oppressive father, and a man
with strongly held antidemocratic political views. He
court-martialed a civilian newspaper reporter who had written a
viciously unfair article about him. In relating the life of the man
best known for his ultradestructive 1864 march through Georgia,
Fellman (History/Simon Fraser Univ., Canada; Inside War, not
reviewed) concentrates on sketching a psychological portrait rather
than on blow-by-blow descriptions of Sherman's military exploits.
He uses his voluble subject's many letters, speeches, and writings
to burrow deeply into his mind. This leads to several intriguing
hypotheses involving the relationship between the fear of failure
resulting from Sherman's early early debacles and his later success
on the battlefield. Fellman's fixation on Sherman's psyche,
however, also results in some facile, largely unconvincing
psychological analyses. These include discussions about Sherman's
"self-love" and the contention that Sherman feared "exposing
himself entirely to himself" because "there were energies and
conflicts inside of him that were frightening even to himself." A
fresh, needed reinterpretation of Sherman the man, but a bit
overwritten and sometimes off-base in its psychologizing. (Kirkus
Reviews)
Some men panic in the face of war, others embrace its horrific
challenges. But none embraced war as ferociously or with as much
cold calculation as William Tecumseh Sherman. It was Sherman who
both articulated and practiced the relentless scorched-earth policy
that broke the heart of the Confederacy. He succeeded in large
measure because, better than any other Union general, he fully
grasped the essence of psychological warfare and could enact his
own deep-rooted rage with ruthless clarity.
This biography is much broader than an analysis of Sherman's
wartime genius, however. Michael Fellman illuminates the emotional
as well as the intellectual, ideological, and occupational lives of
this extraordinary, but at the same time representative, Victorian
American.
Fellman's boldly argued and gracefully written study merits the
attention of anyone interested in its brilliant and volatile
subject". -- Gary W. Gallagher in the New York Times Book
Review
Somehow, the key to the sherman riddle has until now eluded
biographers. Now Fellman, whose best-known previous book offered
the finest history yet written on Civil War guerrilla fighting in
the border state of Missouri, has offered as gripping and original
a life story as has yet been produced on Sherman. It is most
compelling book. Convincing argued and elegantly written, it takes
its place as the definitive modern study of the Civil War's most
feared fighter". -- Harold Holzer in the Chicago Tribune.
"There appears to be nothing written by or to Sherman that
Fellman hasn't read and analyzed, no scrap of existing evidence
that he hasn't looked at. He makes a persuasive case and he does it
in a fascinating and readable way. The innerSherman that emerges
isn't necessarily a man you would invite home for dinner, although
he would doubtless be charming and endlessly interesting. Here is a
famous and furious man, brilliant, insightful, garrulous,
complicated, tightly wound, energetic, aggressive, salty, angry,
and racist. Here is a man who is grudge-bearing, yet often kind;
insecure, yet positive about what the war was about, how to win it,
and how it would end". -- Washington Post Book World.
"A penetrating study of the psychological makeup of a brilliant,
troubled, and troubling man.... one of the most enigmatic and
controversial figures in American history", -- William S. McFeely
in the Boston Globe.
"A vivid portrait of a fiery personality and a troubled,
sometimes dark soul. Lively, compelling, and provocative, it will
stir controversy. It speaks with loud assurance where others might
tread cautiously. It raises the sort of questions should ask more
often". -- Brooks Simpson in the Journal of American History.
General
Imprint: |
University Press of Kansas
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Modern War Studies |
Release date: |
April 1997 |
First published: |
April 1997 |
Authors: |
Michael Fellman
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 26mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
486 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-7006-0840-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-7006-0840-0 |
Barcode: |
9780700608409 |
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