Don't let the above fool you.

For as author Newell points out so clearly and so accurately in this captivating account of the little-known Fall 1861 campaign in West Virginia, McClellan had much going for him as Lee had much against him.

For McClellan and the Union, it was McClellan's devout yet crusty subordinate, General William S. Rosecrans who deserves much of the credit for the Union victory. Rosecrans was aggressive, and he didn't hesitate whereas his boss did. Indeed, Rosecrans own career skyrocketed after his success in West Virginia, only to nose dive so quickly two years later at Chickamauga.

McClellan also had the services of General Jacob Cox of Ohio, who would later distinguish himself in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, and of the famed explorer Frederic West Lander, who at one time rivalled Fremont in his Westward explorations, but who died so suddenly after the West Virginia campaign.

Also involved was a then little-known NCO named Ambrose Bierce, whose own macabre writings, including "A Horse-Man in the Sky" and "The Mocking Bird" came directly out of his experiences serving in an Indiana regiment during the fighting in West Virginia. If you like the twist and turns of Bierce's fiction, then this non-fiction work is a must.

Also going for McClellan was the key factor of a mountain populace that was on his side.

In contrast Lee suffered from poor generals - one of them, John B. Floyd, bicked constantly with his fellow generals. Floyd, the treasonous Secretary of War in the pre-Lincoln Buchanan Administration, was in constant fear of being captured and hanged. One of the more gifted Generals, Robert Garnett, was killed early on in the retreat from Rich Mountain. Garnett's cousin, Richard, would die in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg almost two years later.

Lee's troops suffered from poor morale - a fact not lost on the future Confederate commander, who learned from his lessons here, whereas McClellan quickly forgot his.

Of additional note is the fact that two future Presidents - Rutherford Hayes and William McKinley, served in the 24th Ohio during the West Virginia battles, while the Grandfather of George S. Patton fought with the Confederate forces.

Not only does Newell cover fresh ground, but the illustrations, particularly those at the beginning of each chapter, give the reader a "you are there" feel.

After listening to Clayton Newell during one of his many speaking engagements I went out and purchased this book. The anaylsis of General Robert E. Lee vs. George B. McClellan is both riviting and thought provoking - cover to cover. In 1861 both sides had little in the way of experienced officers who commanded higher than the regimental level, yet these two men took up that challenge and the end results are still being debated to this day.

The author does an outstanding job in analyzing their strength's and weaknesses, along with their usage of junior officers. This analysis along with snippets of little known historical facts make this a most enjoyable book to read. Coming from a state born of this conflict, the studies within these pages hits real close to home!

This is a marvelous peek inside Robert Kennedy's efforts against corrupt labor unions. I had long been intrigued with the whole RFK-Jimmy Hoffa "feud," so this was a treat for me. Robert Kennedy's writing style is at once humorous and pragmatic. He provides a detailed account of the inner workings of the McClellan Committee. Moreover, he meticulously describes the corruption within the labor organizations, with particular emphasis on Jimmy Hoffa. A word of warning: When I use words like "detailed" and "meticulously," I'm being serious. The book is a must for anyone interested in RFK, Jimmy Hoffa, the McClellan Committee, or American labor history; but someone who wants an action movie packaged as a book, will probably be disillusioned. Having said that, I loved the book. I highly recommend it.

This is my favorite book. Its filled with simple gentle ideas of what prayer is and how to pray. Its also filled with amusing and touching illustrations of an elf showing the different concepts the book is teaching. I pick this up all the time, when I need to refocus and get my perspective back. It really soothes my spirit. Highly recommended!

Easy to read and covering many areas of JNI usage. However, when one settles to write an application in earnest, the book starts feeling superficial. The reference is meager on the Sun web page and not enhanced in the book. For instance, here's a typical argument explanation: "clazz: a Java class object". No indication as to what the usage really is, just a statement of what type it is. This sort of treatment is unfortunately typical. Memory management is barely touched, and many areas are not covered. I expect to be told if a particular method manages memory or not, so I can take adequate care in my application. I expected a detailed discussion on how Java and corresponding C/C++ buffers are managed in general; How to navigate through objects to data that may not be directly available from the calling object; How to access Java static functions, like the utility libraries from native code (or a discussion why not). etc... Examples are provided and thoroughly explained in the "Guide" part of the book, but are by no means a comprehensive coverage of the usage and features of JNI.

I rate it 3 stars -- a good introduction, but not a workhorse desk reference. Good to borrow and read through to see how JNI works, but one needs more substantial information to trully write JNI code as part of an application.

JNI is not for the meek, and if you plan on using it, you will spend way to much time unless you have a book like this to clarify issues. The author tries to cover very diverse applications of JNI such as serial I/O, legacy C structure mapping issues, and running a Java program from an NT Service. Strategies such as how to design better JNI code are covered (although not as much as I would have liked). For example, keeping Java and C++ objects in sync via a mirrored approach. As with other technologies, JNI seems easy to those who feel comfortable with C++ UNTIL they have to write a non-trivial JNI application with a deadline. Although, this book does not answer all your questions, such as performance issues, and indepth user allocated memory management concerns, it does give you enough detail and coverage to make its stance as a solid JNI Handbook.

No-nonsense, short & sweet, here's how to do JNI. I've seen many many technical books of this sort fall short of the mark, and this isn't one of them.

The book is organized by functional topic, which is *really* handy when you're neck-deep in C++ and Java. Hilites include: setting object fields and invoking object methods, working between C++ and Java types; creating and using objects; working with (or in spite of) the garbage collector; using Java exceptions in native code; working with Java strings; object and class introspection; and embedding the JVM inside of a C++ application.

Having moderate experience as a Java programmer and an extensive background in C++, I was up to speed and gunning through native method implementations in an afternoon. My primary development platform is win32, and in spite of what the editorial review says, I found every page of this book helpful.