Sherman's March to the Sea is well-known, however his subsequent campaign up through the Carolinas is not. Sherman is widely considered to be the inventor of manuever warfare, and as such this is required reading. It is little known that this campaign continued for 9 days after Appomattox!

READ THIS BOOK YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED

John Sherman's War Stories: A Memoir Of Nigeria And Biafra is a personal memoir that began as a journal kept by a member of a Red Cross food/medical team who operated during the Nigerian Civil War during the late 1960s. Sherman's extensive work teaching and with the Red Cross relief efforts, his eye-witness to horror, and his personal experience in striving to help the less fortunate are candidly chronicled in vivid, compelling detail making War Stories an unforgettable and strongly recommended narrative which is enhanced for the reader with author photos of the Nigerian Civil War, as well as maps of Africa, Nigeria, and Biafra.

John Marszalek's biography of General Sherman really does its subject justice. Instead of merely recording the details of Sherman and his life, he finds something that obviously drove Sherman, the passion for order, and uses that to define his actions. This is not only limited to the Civil War, but to the Indian Wars, and his less famous years before the Civil War. Without praising or villifying, he is able to paint a remarkable portrait of the man whom Southerners hated as much as Northerners hated Jefferson Davis. This is the book to read on Sherman. Do not pass it up.

Marszalek has studied Sherman for years, and his biography reflects a comprehensive knowledge of the sources on Sherman. Sherman was a highly complex and intelligent person, fourth academically in his class at West point, though a prankish student who finished sixth in his overall graduating class because of demerits. If you don't know much about Sherman, if you only know he said war is hell and marched through Georgia, this is a good book for you. Sherman's army assignments before the Civil War were mostly in the South, and he loved it, but he hated secession, though he did not oppose slavery. Under Grant's wing he became an excellent general. He believed in a hard war but a soft peace, and opposed the conduct of reconstruction after the war. The only reservation I have is the author may overpsychologize his approach to Sherman: the passion for order theme runs throughout the book. But the book's quality is saved by the mountain of details the author relates about Sherman's life and other's views of him, and by a highly readable writing style. As one of the most important generals in the Civil War and in the history of the U.S. Army, and an important influence on modern concepts of total war, William Tecumseh Sherman (aka "Cump") is well deserving of study, and this biography is well worth reading.

Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order, by John F. Marszalek, is a model biography of possibly the greatest general to emerge from the Civil War. Marszalek gives a very even-handed account of the general's rise from relative obscurity to command the second largest army in America, becoming a hero to most, and the equivalent of Satan to some in the process. Unlike Longacre's biography of John Buford, Marszalek did not labor under a shortage of primary information about his subject. With such a luxury, Marszalek follows the development of Sherman the man, and shows how particular events shaped his future views on warfare and towards the South. Most notably, the author points out his experience in the Seminole War as the basis for Sherman's ideas on war against populations. He also describes Sherman's time spent in the South, and how his friendliness towards its people led to leniency towards them after the war concluded. It would appear that Marszalek was somewhat influenced by B.H. Liddell Hart's Strategy, when describing Sherman's military campaigns. Hart states that he believed Sherman was the best Civil War general because he promoted the "indirect" approach to warfare. On many occasions, Marszalek refers to Sherman's "psychological outflanking" of the enemy and winning military victories without fighting battles-the very essence of Hart's tract. At the same time, the author insists that Sherman was driven by his need to have order in a chaotic world. This is in fact the theme of the entire book, and Marszalek does an admirable job of showing that Sherman fought the war in the manner he did in order to provide order (Union) the quickest way possible. Marszalek stretches his analysis of Sherman's desire for order into his post-war life. Sherman's experiences fighting the Indians, as well as "dalliances" with other women, and conflicts with politicians at caused him great distress because they were disorderly. In the end, Sherman's desire for stability led him on a campaign to provide an accurate history of the Civil War. Though his efforts made him many enemies in the South, his contributions ensured his place in American history, and the order he so desperately desired.

To read Professor Marszalek`s book, Sherman and the Civil War Press, first published in 1981, and re-issued in `99 one would come away with the distinct impression that General Sherman was sitting in his tent at Paducah, at Pittsburg Landing, at Memphis, at Chickasaw Bayou etc., etc., wracking that quite outstanding brain of his, not on how to defeat the rebels but plotting the systematic downfall of all reporters. If asked to swallow Marszalek`s assertions and emphasis, the average reader might well find themselves putting down, what is afterall merely an extended thesis, something one might jot off for a P.hd, asking the question, how then did General Sherman manage to Capture Atlanta, make Georgia howl, and march 62,000 men through the Carolinas if he spent his every waking moment agonizing over " pestifirous newshounds" ? The answer is, of course, he didn`t! Lashing out at the reporters who crowded his camps merely to write up stories coloured by the personal views of the enlisted men and predjudiced by the self-glorifying comments of political generals such as John McClernand and Frank Blair was just one more aspect of Sherman`s multi-layed and complicated charactor. He was one of those people who throughly enjoy confrontation, he thrived on, was inspired by, what Londoners nowadays might term "aggro" - But Marszalek would have us believe that compared to the court martial of Knox and the discouraging of other scribblers the rebellion that was tearing his nation apart was a side show. The author portrays the General as wishing to muffle a free press - but if we put this desire into the context of this century`s conflicts, notably The Gulf War, we will realise just how vital, necessary it was to advocate General Sherman`s view - why should the enemy employ spies when the newspapers and T.V. are only too willing to share our military secrets? It is also important to remember, a fact that Marszalek conveniently forgets, that Mr Lincoln refused publishers the right to use the trains to transport their newspapers, even closed a couple when they came close to treason in their editorials. No one called him insane or obssessed. Much of this book is merely a fast track re-hash of Marszalek`s often inaccurate biography of the great General - inaccurate in fact and in analysis and conclusion. I would like to say that what the professor lacks in content and accuracy he makes up for in style - I would like to say it, but unfortunately I cannot, for Marszalek has no style. Stringing together sentances to make chapters, is not style. I wish the professor luck in finding another subject, I think he has taken this one as far as he can. It is fortunate for the professor and other Sherman biographers that the General is not alive today for he most certainly would have made THEM the object of his ire in a book to be entitled " Sherman`s third War - The General and Bad biographies." Since there was no " nil stars" rating I gave it one star for subject matter.