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A carregar... Stealing the General (2006)por Russell S. Bonds
  
Nenhum(a) Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro.   ) Dlg4 | Mar 17, 2019 |  Since I was a kid and saw a Walt Disney production of "The Great Locomotive Chase" (starring Fess Parker, no less!), I have had an interest in the Civil War story of the Andrews raid, in which a group of Union soldiers went behind enemy lines to steal a train for the purpose of disrupting Confederate railroad traffic. What the raiders had counted on was a conductor on the train they stole, so offended by their act that he took off in pursuit of them, first on foot(!), then by securing another train. What excitement! What drama! Even better than most fiction! As a child I also had a book about Medal of Honor winners, the "Great Locomotive Chase" was covering in its first chapter. (The raiders were the first recipients of the Medal of Honor.) I couldn't get enough of the story. What I didn't know, however, is that the excitement and drama didn't end with the chase itself. The raiders were caught and imprisoned and what followed was a story of endurance during their imprisonment, as well as an incredible escape by some of them that required them to negotiate many hundreds of miles through enemy territory in order to get back to Union lines. "Stealing the General" has to be by far the DEFINITIVE account of the Andrews Raid. It is extremely well-written, an absorbing true-story page-turner. I'm surprised the book hasn't gotten much visibility, but that's likely because the author is without formal credentials as a historian (he's a lawyer on staff with the Coca-Cola Company), and the book comes from an obscure publishing house (Westholme Publishers of Yardley, PA). It has been a selection of the Book of the Month Club, the History Book Club, and the Military Book Club, so some have recognized its excellence. It really deserves more readers. (  ) kvrfan | Apr 25, 2015 | Bonds give full credit to a Colonel James Bogle of Atlanta who not only gave the author much guidance but whose wonderful collection of photographs – of all the trains and most of the Train Stealers – so add to this work. The story of the plot, the chase, its unhappy failure and the miserable outcome for the Union participants is tempered with the apparent admiration of all for its outrageous courage. The then current headlines even in the Southern press indicated admiration for its daring, if not its intent and showed why this is such a fascinating story. There is a well-researched chapter on the history of the Medal of Honor, from its inception by the first award to one of the bravest surviving “Raider” to its rapid debasement - one was awarded merely because a lieutenant colonel wrote requesting that he be allowed one as a souvenir and then all 864 members of a Maine regiment were given the medal as an incentive to reenlist – and only 309 did so! In the closing chapters Russell makes a tentative claim that the General is “probably the world’s most famous train”. By the end of the book he firms up on his claim (p.437) on the “World’s most famous locomotive”. Unless his “world” is the same as the USA World Series (i.e. the contiguous 48) I think not. The Orient Express is assuredly that train, and if only engines, then surely Stephenson’s Rocket perhaps, or the Flying Scotsman or even the beautiful Southern Pacific engines but surely a major motive for his writing his marvelous book is to spread wider the knowledge of this particular and wonderful train, the stolen General. 1  John_Vaughan | Sep 1, 2011 | I've read a number of Civil War history books but this is the first one that is so focused on just a few individuals. Since the incident is so well documented with primary sources, we have direct quotes from normal people who otherwise are invisible to history which adds a lot of character and sense of place and time. It was easy to step back and time and re-enact the period, and I think that is the most valuable aspect, an accessible and fun way to time travel. It's also rare to read a Civil War book in which hardly a shot is fired - there was some violence and death after the "race", but nothing compared to the typical brutality of the war. After reading I watched Buster Keaton's 1926 film The General, based on the story of the chase, which has great sets and further adds to the period feel. Apparently this film is considered an American classic and was among the first to be added to the National Film Registry; critic Roger Ebert listed it on his top 10 greatest films. It's well worth seeing the film along with the book. --Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2011 cc-by-nd (  )1 Stbalbach | Aug 6, 2011 | ) kmcnutt | Mar 31, 2009 |
Bonds turns out to be the perfect person to write a book about the raid, by virtue of his legal training. Most of those involved in the raid, on both sides, left some sort of written account of of the event. The problem, though, is that quite a number of those accounts were written years, sometimes decades, after the raid, a point at which memories begin to fade. What is more, some used the opportunity to write as a means of building up their reputations or savaging the reputations of others. Bonds, as an attorney, was able to sift through these depositions and glean what was truthful. He also points out occasions where conflicts exist among the accounts. By comparing and contrasting the conflicting memories, Bonds suggests the most likely scenario, giving us a much better understanding of the raid.
History.
Nonfiction.
"Magnificent and definitive...Mr. Bonds' compelling narrative and convincing analysis give the episode its due at last.".
A year after the Civil War began, a Union spy and 19 infantry followers stole a train engine, THE GENERAL, and made their way north, cutting telegraph lines and destroying tracks. Some of the perpetrators were captured and hanged, but six of the hijackers were the first to earn the Medal of Honor. This book is the first comprehensive account of this episode. Narrator Bronson Pinchot has a classy, deep voice that is both subtle and compelling. His diction is impeccable, and he raises and lowers his pitch to create dramatic tension. The best part of Pinchot's performance is that it's seemingly effortless: He reads; we listen to a terrific story. Books don't get much better than that. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine.
HTML: On April 12, 1862??one year to the day after Confederate guns opened on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War??a tall, mysterious smuggler and self-appointed Union spy named James J. Andrews and nineteen infantry volunteers infiltrated Georgia and stole a steam engine called the General. Racing northward at speeds near sixty miles an hour, cutting telegraph lines, and destroying track along the way, Andrews planned to open East Tennessee to the Union army, cutting off men and materiel from the Confederate forces in Virginia. If they succeeded, Andrews and his raiders could change the course of the war. But the General's young conductor, William A. Fuller, chased the stolen train first on foot, then by handcar, and finally aboard another engine, the Texas. He pursued the General until, running out of wood and water, Andrews and his men abandoned the doomed locomotive, ending the adventure that would soon be famous as "The Great Locomotive Chase." But the ordeal of the soldiers involved was just beginning. In the days that followed, the raiders were hunted down and captured. Eight were tried and executed as spies, including Andrews. Eight others made a daring escape, including two assisted by a network of slaves and Union sympathizers. For their actions, before a personal audience with President Abraham Lincoln, six of the raiders became the first men in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor??the nation's highest decoration for gallantry. Americans north and south, both at the time and ever since, have been astounded and fascinated by this daring raid. But until now, there has not been a complete history of the entire episode and the fates of all those involved. Based on eyewitness accounts, as well as correspondence, diaries, military records, newspaper reports, deposition testimony, and other primary sources, Stealing the General is a blend of meticulous research and compelling narrative that is destined to become the definitive history of "the boldest adventure of the w Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
Autor LibraryThingRussell S. Bonds é um Autor LibraryThing, um autor que lista a sua biblioteca pessoal no LibraryThing. Current DiscussionsNenhum(a)Capas populares
 Google Books — A carregar...GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)973.732History and Geography North America United States Administration of Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865 Civil War Operations Campaign of 1862Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia: (4.02)
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