chambers robert 1954 (1 Ergebnisse)

Hardcover. Zustand: Fine. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Fine. 1st Edition. 7th printing ; xi, 288 pages : maps, portraits ; 23 cm ; SIGNED presentation by author on title page ; ISBN 9780965427906, 0965427900 ; OCLC 38115764 ; red cloth in color pictorial dustjacket ; The American Civil War career of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his Confederate cavalry as told through the fictional letters of Henry Wylie to his wife Elizabeth. ; Robert S. Chambers is a former high-school teacher and parks manager in the Cleveland, Ohio area where he has lived for the past twenty years. A self-professed student of the American Civil War for the past three decades, in this, his first novel, he has used the construct of a soldier's letters home to bring the sterling career of Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest to life. Concentrating on the period between December 1861 and August 1865, this book chronicles Forrest and his "Critter Cavalry's" activities through a series of letters from the protagonist of the book, Henry Wylie, to his wife Elizabeth. These letters were, as Wylie points out in an early missive, written "whenever he had a moment off the saddle." Not only do the letters cover all of Forrest's major engagements throughout the war, they also perhaps cleverly set the stage for a future series of novels also based on Wylie's letters. As Chambers says (page 3), "[Wylie's] almost clairvoyant ability to be at the site of breaking news events was uncanny." Apparently, Wylie was present at the murder of "Wild Bill" Hickock, on vacation in Martinique when Mount Pele erupted, saw John L. Sullivan win boxing's heavyweight championship after a herculean 77 round brawl, and was even present at the wreck of the famous Locomotive 382 and horrific death of its engineer - Casey Jones. Sadly, Wylie's news career was cut tragically short on April 15, 1912 when he perished from the deck of the Titanic after heroically saving a number of the doomed luxury liner's passengers. Yes, we still have a lot yet to learn from the pen of Mr. Wylie.There have been a number of books published on the life and campaigns of LTG Forrest that will provide considerably more detailed information about his individual actions than that provided in The God of War.But the book that kept coming to my mind as I read of Wylie's travails was Henry Kyd Douglas' I Rode with Stonewall, more snarkily known among some Civil War historians as Stonewall Rode with Me. And I believe this comparison may well have been at least unconsciously intended by the author, but intended in a positive way, for it gives the author the leeway to tell the story as it happens.and this is a tribute to author Chambers, the reader comes to like and appreciate Wylie's reporting more and more as the book progresses, and forgets that he is not real. As with Henry Kyd Douglas, Wylie does sometimes come off as being too necessary to the events at hand. But the reader can overlook this because of the humanity with which he reports those events. Plus, his presence allows the author a vehicle to more fully tell Forrest's story. Those who have served will easily recognize the different emotions soldier's experience, especially those in combat, go through, and Wylie's evolution is no exception.If truth be told, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and indeed, probably looked forward to each letter as much as Elizabeth would have. Each chapter is accompanied by a "footnote" at the end of the book that adds substance where needed, but also points out what is factual and what is fictional. It is the perfect book for the individual who wants to learn generally about Forrest's campaigns without the in-depth narratives found in standard historical texts. More importantly, the reader comes to like Henry Wylie, indeed to the point of pulling for him. It is a work that is fun and easy to read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in this country's most seminal event.--John D Mason, Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table ; FINE/FINE. Signed by Author(s). Book.