In this book ,as you read, you can't help but keep looking at your watch. A minute by minute account of the famous charge.You feel as if you are in the ranks on both sides in that bloody attack and stalwart defense on Cemetery Ridge. THIS BOOK IS A CLASSIC TO COMPARE WITH GEORGE STEWART'S BOOK ON PICKETT'S CHARGE. Amust read for all GETTYSBURG BUFFS.

John Michael Priest has once again displayed the literary art to which he seems born. This book is so utterly enthralling, it is almost like reading a novel. Even the veteran of many Gettysburg book readings will hinge on the story of Pickett's charge as told by Priest. His use of numerous primary sources lends to his telling of the story by the participants themselves. Each individual story then coalesces into a coherent and understandable analysis of how the charge developed and died. Priest gives both Confederate and Union impressions an equal treatment, creating a full veiw of the action. His writing brings out the horror, sadness, terror, pride, honor and exhultation felt by those actually present on that fateful day. Previous knowledge of the battle or Pickett's action is not needed to enjoy this work. Priest follows the action closely, developing it enough for the beginner or simply curious to understand. For those with a background in Civil War history, even Pickett's charge, the personal accounts still make the account a worthwhile read.

Below the Salt is one of those books that is hard to put down. The author recreates the history of the 90th Division as they fight their way through France and into Germany. What makes this book a gem is the focus on the everyday struggles of the soldier. As an avid reader of WWII history, I learned alot from this book.

John Langdon and Edward Judge have captured the essence of the Cold War in this fine book. Useful for historians, teachers, students and anyone interested in a global perspective on the forty years following World War II, A Hard and Bitter Peace is truly remarkable!

Nichols has presented a well researched biography of a man who commanded the respect and the admiration of an army. The men who fought under him called him "Old Common Sense." They were willing to follow him into Hell itself, and they did. John F. Reynolds was professionally remote, militarily a genius, and personally a shy quiet man. Nichols brings Reynolds to warm life once again in this entertaining and well written biography. You will feel as if you know this general who turned down command of the entire Army of the Potomac, only to die a month later leading a regiment into combat because "that's where he was most needed." You will stand beside the Confederate prisoners of war who rose to their feet in silent respect as the dead Reynolds was carried past them. An inspiring picture of a man whose death made an army pause to weep.

This is a brilliant example of good scholarship. The book is impeccably researched. Of course there are conclusions that are open to debate, but it is difficult to find an area where you could fault the writer's logic. This is the standard work on a very complex subject, and will likely remain so. If only every historian was so objective and paid so much attention to detail, think of how much we would discover. Maybe I'm being too naive.

No one has done more than Renehan to explore and explain the Byzantine tale of abolitionist John Brown and his idealistic but confused (and sometimes absurd) northeastern bankers. This is a splendid story that, by polishing with his customary narrative excellence, Renehan has turned into a real gem.

THE SECRET SIX does a wonderful job of revealing the tangled web of intrigue that lay behind John Brown's 1859 incursion at Harpers Ferry. This is stunning stuff: six affluent northeasterners, one of them the husband of poetess Julia Ward Howe and another the leading Unitarian minister of his day, financing terrorism in slave states -- and going about it methodically, calmly, and deliberately. What a story. And so well told.

THE SECRET SIX paints a vivid portrait of the northeastern aristocrats who financed John Brown's infamous 1859 misadventure at Harpers Ferry. Renehan's elegant, complelling treatment of true historical facts reads like a novel. All the members of the Six -- Franklin Sanborn, Theodore Parker, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Samuel Gridley Howe, George Luther Stearns and New York's Gerrit Smith -- are brilliantly sketched by Renehan, who also does a first-rate job rendering the unpredictable and unstable John Brown. Most importantly, Renehan proves expert in unscrambling the many Byzantine intrigues that combine to make up the story of Brown and his often-perplexed benefactors.

Includes new Afterward explaining how Lawrence was abducted by desert-savvy aliens!

It is a commonplace to refer to T.E. Lawrence as one of the most enigmatic figures of twentieth century history. One sometimes wonders if it is his enigmatic character that continues to make him interesting, rather than what he achieved in his lifetime.

This is, as far as I know, the first attempt by a psychiatric professional to write a life of Lawrence. So much about Lawrence's personality - his illegitimacy, his craving for anonymity after the war even as he contrarily managed to worm his way into the spotlight so many times, his name change ostensibly in honor of G.B. Shaw, and probably most of all his experience at Deraa, made him an object of general interest, not to say lurid speculation. Lawrence, with his usual flair, manages to give us enough about his interior life in "Seven Pillars" to pique our interest without actually telling us anything.

While I must admit that I enjoyed the book, I must also say that I walked away from it feeling that I did not know any more about Lawrence after finishing it than I did before. The author covers a great deal of terrain, but I think that we're all not any closer to understanding Lawrence. Maybe the definitive biography is still waiting to be written. Maybe it never will be.

John E Mack has written a definitive and masterful biography of T. E. Lawrence, a man of fascinating complexity. The movie, Lawrence of Arabia, portrays a "mighty hero." Lawrence's role in the Arab Revolt are put into the context of his childhood, the Paris Conference, and the RAF years. Mack does not diminish Lawrence's achievements nor does he glorify them. Lawrence's post-war years were spent escaping his fame and what he endured. His psychical scars from the war deaden him to emotion and pleasure and his idealistic romanticism turned to nihilism. Lawrence's post-war penitence and alienation lead me to believe that he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of his brushes with death and his loss of physical and emotional integrity. He sought to break through his numbness by riding high performance motorcycles at breakneck speeds through the countryside and subjecting himself to scourgings.

If you saw the movie, read this book.

While I'd heard lots of wonderful things about McCullough's book, I must admit that I did not know much about John Adams. Most of what I knew stemmed from American history classes or, more recently, studying Abigail in the light of feminist theory. I was truly impressed by McCullough's astounding accomplishment - a thorough portrait of a complicated, interesting, flawed individual who played a pivotal - and under-appreciated - role in the history he witnessed and shaped.

With Adams' own diary as a resource - along with the vast amount of correspondence to which he had access - McCullough ventures behind the history and politics to talk about John Adams as a person. He clearly conveys the passion Adams had for his country, friends and family as well as his frustration at often being misunderstood. While the Adams that is revealed is perfectly human - flaws and all - the fact remains that he saw events and lived a life that few, if any, others of the time did, and McCullough is able to both describe how Adams viewed his experiences as well as, with the hindsight of a couple of hundred years, the long-lasting significance of his actions, significance that Adams probably never even imagined. The result is an impressively vivid and relevant portrait of a man who lived during an amazing period of history.

There's no need to belabor the minor details of the book except to note that it covers an extensive period of Adams' life, one that sees his achievements, struggles and so on. One of the central underlying themes is both the lack of appreciation that Adams experienced and that the the author clearly feels Adams has suffered from. It is this obvious subtext that provides my only point of criticism. While Adams certainly was an extraodinary individual who did not always receive the recognition he deserved, I did feel that others - most notably Jefferson - were treated less than favorably given the application of that particular perspective. While Jefferson is perhaps remembered in a better light than that in which he lived, I did feel some bias in the comparisons between the two, particularly given that Jefferson, whose motives often appear less honorable and more devious than Adams, nevertheless did not experience as much harsh treatment as did the more controversial bu no less worthy Adams.

Still, despite this criticism, I found the book immensely valuable and endlessly fascinating. I am an avid reader of biographies of all sorts, and I seldom have encountered one that renders such a comprehensive and candid appraisal of its subject nor one that brings the individual so much to life - and this includes books about those still living. I could not recommend this book more highly. Perhaps a caveat to consider some of the interpretation carefully is in order, but my concerns over a slight bias have only encouraged me to read - and learn - more. I await Mr. McCullough's next endeavor with a great deal of anticipation and excitement.

When you study American history in high school and even in basic entry level college courses, the names and writings of Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and Hamilton become the most familiar. For some reason or another John Adams gets overlooked, and I never questioned why until reading this book. Clearly Adams is a major figure in the organizing and implementing of the New American Experiment. His ideology is one of a collective group of individuals that carries through the Revolutionary War period all the way through the inauguration of George Washington as the country's first president. With the benefit of a creative and flowing writing style of David McCullough, one can enjoy learning more about the mindset of Adams and other Revolutionary era figures as they struggle with the idea of independence and the establishment of a new government. I can't comment on whether or not this is the best book on John Adams, since I haven't read any other books about him, but I can say that this is a wonderful work that goes beyond the conventional layer that historically we have given to John Adams and his legacy.

David McCullough has written the Adams biography that finally does our second president justice. Adams' reputation as obnoxious, vain, and disliked by his peers has for many years overshadowed the accomplishments of the man. The truth is, the United States owes a greater debt of gratitude to Adams than most people realize. McCullough chronicles Adams' tireless service to the cause of liberty and his considerable role in structuring a representative republic. Without Adams' hand, the United States as we know it today may be a quite different nation than it is. Such was the influence of Adams, and we can thank McCullough for revealing to us the actual greatness of the man.

The John and Abigail Adams union is perhaps the greatest political love story in US history. McCullough understands and appreciates the role that Abigail played in John Adams' life and career, and he devotes a good portion of the book to Abigail's influence on her husband. Abigail was not a highly educated woman, but her common sense and intelligence, as well as her devotion to her "dearest friend", reveal her to be woman ahead of her time. It is difficult to imagine John Adams without Abigail, especially after reading this book.

McCullough is a responsible historian, and in being so he refuses to whitewash his subjects. He does not deify Adams; he shows us his flaws as well as his attributes. Adams was human, subject to the same imperfections as anyone. This truth, however, allows readers to marvel at Adams' accomplishments even more. After all, that which may be simple for a god to accomplish can require a superhuman effort for a mortal to achieve, and Adams' list of achievements is long and impressive.

McCullough's "John Adams" is a well-researched and thorough biography, yet it is anything but dry. The author has the rare gift of capturing on paper all that is exciting about history, something to which readers of his previous books about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal can attest. McCullough reinforces the notion that the world's greatest stories are the true stories, and that our great historians can be our best storytellers.

This book is very informative for those that know nothing about the movement, and most people KNOW NOTHING. I encourage all White people to read this book and take to heart what it says. If you disagree with the Identity doctrine, try to disprove it. The beliefs are not only backed by Biblical truth, but as well as Historical proof. My praise to the authors for thier straight forward reporting. They said that they would not twist our words around, and they made good on the promise. Thank you Myra and Howard.

The authors of the book take a neutral stance on these white supremacists. They present their ideas without actually condoning them. They have a reserved sympathy for these people since the authors live in the rural conservative culture of Texas that breeds this sort of extremism. They also mention that they had repugnance towards some of the ideas presented, but avoided editorial comments as part of their deal with the extremists.

Many racial extremists have the religious theology of an antisemitic variety of Christian Identity. They interpret the scriptures to mean that whites are actually the chosen people and the Jews are the seed of Satan. They believe that the stone of destiny that the monarchs in England swear themselves upon when being enthroned is Jacob's pillar in the Bible because English tradition says so. Not all Identity Christians are anti-semitic though.

The extremists are firm believers in conspiracy theories involving the Jews and their Gentile freemason cohorts. They believe everything is controlled by ZOG (Zionist Occupied Government) and that the Jews and freemasons involved shape society to their own benefit and to the detriment of the white population.

The authors do not sanitize their accounts of what the extremists truly believe. They believe in the elimination of homosexuals, Jews, race mixers, and the unproductive. Some of their beliefs on these matters are influenced by their interpretation of the Scriptures. (The more violent, younger and secular Neo-Nazi gangs believe in elimination of the unproductive.) The religious racists see themselves as soldiers of God in a righteous fight against what they see as evil. These religious beliefs make them very committed and sometimes they will attempt violence or lawbreaking to achieve their goals of having a Christian theocracy. They believe they are at war with a corrupt government that needs to be overthrown. However, they think that Timothy McVeigh was actually a government agent that worked to put the blame on racial extremists for OKC bombing and to create an incident to pass an anti-terrorists bill targeted against patriots.

They have problems with the theory of racial equality since they think affirmative action is used to promote people who do not merit the position and that blacks often make formerly all-white neighborhoods crime zones.

The authors do not try to confirm or deny any of the many conspiracy theories that they believe in and I think that this is weakness to the book.

The racial extremists have a battle strategy of leaderless resistance in which they form a small group of no more than seven people who know each other well. This strategy guards against infiltrators because the group remains very quiet about what they plan to do. They plan to have hundreds of these groups who will reek havoc upon what they see as ZOG controlled society as they attempt to implement a revolution.

I view the group as ultra conservatives with unorthodox Christian beliefs that do not want to live in a multi-culti society with race mixing and little adherence to some of the more thorny traditional Christian beliefs. They are unable to get what they want at the voting booth and are willing to use violence to get what they want. They also see through the weaknesses in the theory of racial equality and racial sameness when they observe reality. They are scary, but at the same time, fascinating to read about. Although milder conservatives may have the same complaints as the extremists do, they do not have the same nuances in their beliefs that will lead them to violence. Nuances in belief systems are important.

More people will probably be radicalized enough to join extremist groups in the future if the economy keeps sputtering and more foreigners come to live here making the nation less of a predominately white culture. Resentment will be stirred if non-whites are still considered a protected class as opposed to whites according to the law.

This is an informative and readable book that covers extremists in depth while avoiding the simplicity and distortion that the media usually resorts to when covering extremists.

SOLDIERS OF GOD: WHITE SUPREMACISTS AND THEIR HOLY WAR FOR AMERICA is an excellent introduction for anyone who would like basic information about the extreme right-wing white racist groups in the U.S. The authors took pains to win the trust of leaders and participants in such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and others holding the fundamental belief that America was created by and for the white race. The corollary to this belief is that their inheritance is currently under attack by a government (usually described by them as Jewish-controlled) bent on subverting white racial purity and true Christian values.

The authors spent a good deal of time attending meetings, rallies, and social events sponsored by the groups under study, as well as conducting extensive interviews with their leaders and reading widely in the printed and online material produced by them. Bushart, Craig, and Barnes do an admirable job of carrying out their intent to present the belief systems and viewpoints of white supremacy adherents as straightforwardly as possible, leaving it up to the reader to judge the credibility of these beliefs. One especially thought-provoking point made by the authors is that there are quite a few issues and concerns raised by the white supremacists which also resonate with more mainstream American citizens. I have met and chatted with Howard Bushart. He is a very thoughtful and articulate man, and I was impressed with his genuine desire to understand his subjects on their terms, to learn from his own research, which is the starting point all good scholarship.

The book is very well written and includes exclusive photos taken in the course of the authors' research. I highly recommend it.

Much like the Kennedy assassination, the Lincoln assassination has been the subject of more than its share of conspiracy theories. Mr. Steers does an excellent job of debunking most all of these theories by meticulously sifting through the evidence and proving, point by point, that these theories do not hold water. He is able to use the same method to prove most of his own hypothesis concerning Booth and his conspirators. As is mentioned in earlier reviews, Steers does seem to take particular delight in proving the guilt of Mary Surratt and Dr. Mudd. Mudd takes the brunt of Steers' assault, possibly because this is the area of Mr. Steers' greatest knowledge. It is also possible however that the vigor of the author's attacks can be traced to the fact that the Mudd family has done an excellent job convincing most Americans that the good doctor was as much of a victim as was Lincoln. Steers proves that Mudd was indeed involved, and then drives the point home. Make no mistake, he proves it, just as he proves most of his points by doing his research and doing it well.

Please don't be afraid of this book. The writing is clear and easy to follow. Most importantly, it's interesting. There are indeed a lot of names to keep up with but most of those names are going to be pretty familiar to anyone with any knowledge of the period. To make things even easier, Steers gives the reader a good concise history of the conspirators. As a bonus, there is also a chapter devoted to following Lincoln's body on its trip back to Illinois. It's a very interesting chapter at that.

I do have one serious problem with this book. To Steers' credit he does point out that if Jefferson Davis was in on the plot, he had good reason to be. It was the Federals that first broke the rule of not trying to knock off a head of state. The Confederate President had indeed been targeted for death by a group of Union raiders attempting to enter Richmond, and the southerners had the captured orders to prove it. Steers however makes no attempt to link Lincoln with this incident and in fact Lincoln may not have known anything about it. The problem is that Steers uses such flimsy evidence to connect Davis with Booth, that the same line of thought would have to connect Lincoln to the earlier plot. Over and over Steers makes statements such as, "Davis must have known," or, "Davis would have had to know." No evidence is presented to support these statements except that a plot to kidnap the President of the United States could not have been undertaken by the Confederate Secret Service without the approval of the President. If that were the case how could the U.S. Army undertake a plot to assassinate the Confederate President without Lincoln's knowledge. The answer is, it would appear to be very possible that Lincoln did not know what his army was up to just as it would be very possible that Davis had no idea what his spies were up to.

Despite this flaw, this is a fine book. New light is shed on an old subject and maybe a few old myths have been put out of their misery. I may just have to read Mr. Steers book on Dr. Mudd. If this book is any indication, it will be well worth the effort.

This book was obviously well researched. Steers fluently documents the series of events surrounding the Lincoln assasination. His telling of events is easy to follow. After reading this book, I have a better understanding of the people involved in the conspiracy and the roles they played in carrying out this tragic event in American history. This is definitely a book you want to buy for your Lincoln bookshelf. Steers paints a clear picture of the Lincoln assasination, however for a truly enjoyable companion read, I would suggest "Lincoln Assasination" by Swanson and Weinberg. The high quality photos in the Swanson/Weinberg book enhance your undersatnding of the events told by Steers. The two books bring the story to life!

Many years ago I read Jim Bishop's "The Day Lincoln was Shot" and for the first time learned in greater depth about John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices. Edward Steers's new book, "Blood on the Moon", goes much farther in untangling the web of men and women who took part in the Lincoln assassination. Controversy will always surround the events concerning Lincoln's murder but Mr. Steers has done a magnificent job in attempting to set the record straight.

The reader will be reminded that Booth's original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and take him across Confederate lines. It wasn't until late March, 1865 that Booth's plans changed to killing Lincoln and other officials high up in the U.S.government. Mr. Steers writes in a detailed but moving prose, carefully laying out the cases for the guilty. He particularly targets Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, whose name has been attempted to have been cleared by historical revisionists. I felt Mr. Steers's best chapter recounts Booth's escape through the Maryland countryside and his subsequent death in Virginia. The final chapter, too, regarding Lincoln's last trip home to Illinois is moving.

The book is accompanied by some good photos...one taken of Lincoln's death bed moments after his body was removed and one of Lincoln lying in state....the latter only discovered in the twentieth century after being lost for years. However it's Mr. Steers's connecting the pieces of the conspiracy puzzle that set this book apart from the rest. Nicely readable and often riveting, I highly recommend it.