Louisiana Books

John Alden's biography of Charles Lee is an extremely well written, well-researched work. Alden writes a complete history of the controversial general from his birth in Cheshire, England in 1731 to his death in Philadelphia in 1782. Alden asks the question in the title of his book whether Charles Lee was a "Traitor or Patriot" to the American cause. The answer to this question is Alden's thesis. He writes that not only was Lee a fervent supporter of the ideals of republicanism and freedom but also was a military genius.
To Alden's credit the facts that argue against his thesis are included in his work. Alden wrote that Lee served in the War of Independence because he believed that America was the last bastion of freedom in the world. Lee, however, clearly appears to be just an opportunist who put aside the ideals of the "Age of Enlightenment" when they conflicted with his career. His career was the most important thing to him. Lee went to Poland and served as aide-de-camp to Stanislause Poniatowski who at the time was fighting rebels who were challenging his right to the throne of Poland. If Lee had been the lover of freedom that Alden portrays him as why was Lee fighting against men who were trying to overthrow a king? He did because it was an opportunity to advance his career.
Lee was accused by his contemporaries of serving in the American army only because he was mad at the King and the North Ministry for not promoting Lee or giving him his own command. Alden does not go as far as to say that Lee came to America because of his love of liberty. He came to America because he felt it would be a good career move. Lee felt that because of his political actions his career was washed up in Europe. He predicted another war in America against the French, the Spanish, or the Indians. He came to America to further his career and when one came along he joined the side that would most likely offer him the rank of general.
Alden writes that Charles Lee was a military genius. This was a common believe at the time but Lee's actual war record shows that he had very little command experience and had very disappointing results when he was given the opportunity to command. Lee served with Braddock on his disastrous campaign against the French; he served with General Abercromby in his failed attempt to take Fort Ticonderoga. He did serve on a successful campaign with General Amherst when he took Montreal in 1760, although he probably would have preferred to serve with Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham. Lee's first opportunity to command came as a lieutenant colonel under General John Burgoyne in Portugal. Lee led a detachment of grenadiers and light horsemen against an encampment of Spanish infantry. The Spanish were routed, but not because of the military genius of Charles Lee. The battle took place at two o'clock in the morning and the majority of the Spanish camp was asleep. The Portuguese campaign would be Lee's last until he returned to America.
When Lee was offered the rank of Major General he was ecstatic when he was not offered the position of commander in chief he was obviously disappointed. He was already drilling the troops in the streets of Philadelphia when he heard the news of Washington's appointment. Lee's first assignment in the war was the fortification of New York City. Lee performed his task as well as could be expected but his over zealousness hurt the cause politically.
Alden gives Lee a great deal of undeserved credit for the defense of Charleston. Lee did make many changes in the cities defenses but there is one thing that William Moultrie refused to change was the fort on Sullivan's island. The South Carolinians put all their faith in the fort and believed that it could hold off the British. Moultrie proved to be right but Alden claims that their success was due only to luck. It seems unlikely that the natives of Charleston would not know the qualities of the palmetto tree. Charles Lee may have helped but he was not indispensable to the American cause.
Lee was then called to come to New Jersey. Alden writes that Lee was slow to join Washington because he disagreed with Washington's strategy. Alden completely ignores the most probable reason for his slowness; Lee did not want to relinquish his command. He would only be an assistant to Washington once he rejoined the main force.
If Lee had been a superior general to Washington the British would not have captured him. A brilliant military man would not have stayed so far from where his army was so close to enemy territory.
The most controversial part of the history of Charles Lee is the way he behaved while he was in British captivity. Lee tried to become the mediator for an Anglo-American peace agreement. When that did not work out he offered the Howe brothers his plan to defeat the Americans. Lee's plan was far from brilliant and was the same general plan that William Howe had been trying to put into effect since he landed at New York. His plan was to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies by way of Howe taking Philadelphia and Burgoyne driving south into New York State.
Alden suggests that Lee was purposely giving the British bad advice. This is a strange conclusion since the advice was militarily sound. Alden writes that the fact that Burgoyne was defeated and captured at Saratoga shows that Lee was purposely misleading the British. The Battle of Saratoga was not a given victory for Gates and his Army. If the British had acted on Lee's advice when they marched to Saratoga he would not have been doing the Americans any favors.
Alden portrays Lee as a misunderstood genius. From the facts that Alden puts forward in his book Lee was only misunderstood by those who put their faith in him. Lee was a self-serving man and a mediocre general.

Sterling Price is one of the better CSA General Officers in the West. Maybe not the best general or the easiest one to deal with, he stands head and shoulders above many of his peers. This is an excellent military biography of General Price during the Civil War and while over uses is a "warts and all" story. The author pulls no punches in saying where Price was wrong and where he was ill served by superiors and peers. Very even handed, it is clear that price had many admirable qualities coupled with some quirks but he did care and he did try his best.

A second plus of this book is the excellent introduction to the war in the West. Price was at almost all the important battles and each is covered. The overview of his 1864 Missouri Campaign and almost unique, most histories do not mention it. Price usually disappears after Corinth but here we follow him to the Trans-Mississippi and defeat.

Castel's appraisal of Price is very fair and worth the price of the book. Couple with the battle histories this is an excellent buy. The maps are sufficient for the book and tend to be at the campaign level. However, I did not find that to be a problem when reading about any of the battles. The writing is crisp, to the point and moves. Overall, this excellent book will increase your knowledge of the war in the West and needs to be in your Civil War library.

If you are a civil war buff(modest expert)?,and don't have this book what are you waiting for?For one thing the location of the gravesites in this book is accurate.Over the years I have been able to locate alot of these gravesites using this book,and with some directions from local natives,(some unfriendly so beware!)have been able to easily locate the sites.
The brief histories are accurrate and although major biographical works are available on the Confederate States Generals,the thumbnail accounts in this book are very good.It makes you think. Almost all of these generals are not some rabid,slavemongering,Yankee hating,scoundrels,just men who think the United States is just too big to be governed by New England,"those peoples",(to quote Mr. Lee.)An overwhelming majority of the Confederate Generals are West Pointers or VMI'ers.
If you study European history where slavery was outlawed in the early 1800's or before,you will see that Europeans would go to war to settle border disputes over a few acres of territory.In the US of the 1860's,there was a heck of alot more territory at stake than 5 European countries combined.Who would control the resources and government.As the Confederacy perceived it at the time,definitely not New England or Washington.The mistake the Confederacy made was not seeing how actually powerful the Northern States were with long reaching tenacles and aplace in alot of peoples hearts and interests.Slavery-a side issue(although not if you were a slave)doomed even within the Confederate States themselves.
A great moment in my travels,finding Patrick Cleburne's grave in Helena,Arkansas worth more than all of those riverboat gambling boats right near it,but they would go well together cause Cleburne liked to gamble.(At least one geezer has told the story of Cleburne's ghost playing Keno on the boat cursing John Bell Hood everytime he loses which is always.).Then the mossy,spooky overhanging vegetation of Earl van Dorn's grave right next to the Miss.River.According to the book Earl was caught with his drawers down in bed with another man's wife.Was her name Dixie and did he "die in Dixie"?For Yankees there is the Union Generals book also great.

Without a doubt, Doris Betts is one of the world's wisest novelist. These stories, like so many telescopes, focus, fine tune, and zoom in on the perceptions and verities of the heart. Ms. Betts not only reminds us of how frail we are in our faults, but--too--how strong we are in our virutes. I have read all her work and find this collection to be--as all her other work is--a proud call to the humanity in all of us. No excuses, no apologies, just humanity. Shining, excellent stories, each of them!

Support The Historic New Orleans Collection by purchasing this book from their website. The research for this book was done at The Historic New Orleans Collection, and they can offer the book at a good price, plus you are supporting a local archive and museum. I am not in any way affiliated with THNOC or the author. I'm just a historian, wanting other historians and archives to stay in business.

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Cable was a Southern writer, born in New Orleans and a Confederate soldier, best known today (if known at all) for his local color stories about the Creoles of Louisiana and the novel THE GRANDISSIMES, about two feuding Creole families around the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Cable was also a reformer, especially for prison reforms and equal treatment of blacks in the South; this latter view, made public in books such as THE SILENT SOUTH (1885), caused much outrage in the South. He believed that the separation of the races and especially the desire in the South to keep blacks "beneath" whites in all things was damaging to both races. Cable was also a very religious man and was very active in the church. Despite his popularity as an author and lecturer (he toured successfully with Mark Twain), Cable was often in debt, living on advances for his writing. Turner relates Cable's trials and tribulations, and his successes, very well in this biography. He writes well, never allowing his research to get in the way of his commanding style. Later in his career Cable wished to write stories that "make you feel today that you are enterained, and find tomorrow that you are profited." Turner's biography does just that. Highly recommended.

To begin with, Friedrich Gerstaecker was an adventurer who travelled worldwide and had an exceptional skill of experiencing and then sharing his experiences in writing so that the reader could share in his experiences. He never fantasizes, he never creates ficticious characters. His writings have not only literary but also historical value. And what he writes in this book about Louisiana is ample proof of that. He travels through the state and writes down his experiences and observations, and, as is the case with all of his other writings, he shares in the knowledge of history. Speaking personally, I have read several of Gerstaecker's writings in my youth years in Germany, and already at that time, was fascinated with him. I sincerely hope that teachers of Louisiana history will use this book as a resource for students to read. To my knowledge, only one American author compares to Gerstaecker - Mark Twain, with his book LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

It was 34 years ago I first picked up this book and have been a fan of John Niven ever since. This book is the best in the distinguished list of Dr. Niven;s writings. Gideon Welles moves from editor to politician to powerful figure in the Lincoln administration and we follow him as fellow travelers on this voyage. This is one book well worth the price for your library.

Hi all, if you are reading this then you know that I found this to be a good book. Simply because I actually took the time to write a review on it in the first place.

Pinkie has great knowledge of prose, lyric, and so many of those other thingy's that make up poetry. I am a poet myself and I could feel what she wrote...I hope you can too!~

Gleanings is an amazing package of poetry. It's fat-187 pages of "old poems and new poems," beginning with feisty poems of girlhood, the segueing into poems of marriage, ultrasound, pregnancy, empty-nesting, and ending with haunting poems about taking care of a mother with Alzheimers and grieving for a lost father. On the way, Shipley invokes Virginia Woolf, Carolyn Forche, Denise Levertov, Jim Morrison, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Robert Penn Warren, William Blake, William Butler Yeats, Matthew Arnold, Shakespeare, A.E. Houseman, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Eliot and Pound, James Merrill, and Betty Friedan. This is a rich book indeed, an almost-memoir, a navigation of one woman's complex life.