Gary Ecelbarger
Autor(a) de We Are in for It: The First Battle of Kernstown, March 23, 1862
About the Author
Obras por Gary Ecelbarger
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome legal
- Ecelbarger, Gary L.
- Data de nascimento
- 1962-12-20
- Sexo
- male
Membros
Críticas
Prémios
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Estatísticas
- Obras
- 9
- Membros
- 261
- Popularidade
- #88,099
- Avaliação
- 4.0
- Críticas
- 6
- ISBN
- 15
Throughout the book Ecelbarger writes in kind of a borderline poetic diction which is sort of entertaining but can get tiresome. In battle scenes (most of the book) he is more straightforward, but even there sometimes slides into an almost epic kind of vocabulary.
However, on the other side, Ecelbarger met my desiderata for a battle narrative: he introduced leading figures in a way to make them memorable; he went to great lengths to reduce the confusion of similar names (six General Smiths!) and military unit designations; and he kept the pace lively. This battle was a full day of fighting all over the countryside, with frequent changes of location, and lots of advance and retreat. Ecelbarger handled this well, and made it possible if not easy to follow the tangled sequence of nearly simultaneous events. I ended up feeling that I can remember what happened in the battle and who did what, to at least a moderately detailed level. Ecelbarger writes from a somewhat northern-leaning perspective, perhaps because of fuller sources, but he shows tremendous sympathy for the soldiers on both sides of the lines both in their aspirations and their suffering.
There can never be enough maps, but the maps were fairly copious and helpful, though I would have liked a map for every fifteen minute segment of the battle. I will have to wait for Savas Beatie to put out one of their battle maps volumes. There is a full order of battle.
The best aspect of this book, aside, of course, from the information it imparts, is Ecelbarger's enthusiasm for his subject. On a personal note, I also like his enthusiasm for General Black Jack Logan, a favorite of mine from my old home town. But that enthusiasm can be expected: Ecelbarger wrote a biography of General Logan.
I must leave analysis of the accuracy of the book's content and of the validity of the author's viewpoints to the capable Civil War experts who are members of LibraryThing.… (mais)