West Point: Blue and Gray is an enjoyable, faced-paced read. More hagiography than biography, it highlights the personalities and deeds of some of the Civil War's greatest and most famous soldiers. Lee's grace and genius, Grant's sternness and single-mindedness, Stuart's flamboyance, Custer's daring, all these and more are illustrated in this little book. The one thing all these men have in common is that they attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Fleming's style is anecdotal, and he flits from one story to the next. He doesn't capture the horrors of the war, but that isn't his goal. He is writing about heroes and legends and he is telling a story that is not about the war but that is ultimately about the reconciliation. Fleming's argument is that the bonds grown at West Point were ultimately stronger than the battles the men fought over four years in the Civil War. This book may simplify the truth, but it does justice to the myth of the Civil war. ( )