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Title: The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War by Brent Nosworthy ISBN: 0-7867-1147-7 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Pub. Date: June, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.14 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An indispensable guide to musketry and tactics
Comment: As a long-term Civil war buff and miniature wargamer, I found Brent Nosworthy's "The Bloody Crucible of Courage" to be thought-provoking and stimulating, forcing me to relook at some of my long-held perceptions regarding Civil War combat tactics. As with his previous work om the Napoleonic period, the author carefully examines the wepons, tactics, and combat methods. Often, authors who tackle this subject tend to take a strictly North American viewpoint, isolating ACW events, strategy, and battlefield tactics to a nationalistic perspective. Mr. Nosworthy properly examines how global military tactics and international advances in weapons and killing power significantly influenced Civil War thinking (well beyiond the trite and conventional comments often seen that Civil War officers used Napoleonic tactics). Nosworthy correctly points out that the mid-19th Century American officers were much moire in tune with more recent tactivs being used in Europe and elsewhere (perhaps reminiscent of Napoleon in spome aspects, but certainly not to the extent that other writers have claimed).
As a tour guide and frequent speaker at Gettysburg, I am so tired of the cliches that Pickett and Lee were trying to recreate some grand assualt at Borodino or Waterloo on Day 3 at Gettysburg. Brent Nosworthy helps keep the Civil War in its proper context, and offers some fresh ideas that are well-worth strong consideration.
A must read for any serious Civil War enthusiast!
Rating: 5
Summary: The Significance of the Bloody Crucible of Courage
Comment: Whether or not one agrees or disagrees with Brent Nosworthy's conclusions in The Bloody Crucible of Courage is not the point. What Civil War enthusiasts must appreciate is that if you want to understand the study of Civil War tactics, if you want to know the state of the question about the rifle revolution, you must read this book. If you do not read this book, you can not be an informed participant in the current debate.
Do I agree with all of his conclusions? No, but this book has made me reexamine the subject and ask new questions. More research needs to be done before we can reach more conclusive answers, but that new research must deal with the issues raised in The Bloody Crucible of Courage.
Rating: 4
Summary: Stirring up the Devil's Den
Comment: First, this is a difficult book to place - I found it while browsing in a bookstore, and it fully met my expectations, but it's not for the general audience, and probably not even the general Civil War reader. Two key groups who would most benefit from this book are Napoleonic and Civil War re-enactors and gamers. The latter would include both computer, board and miniatures players, and the book directly addresses problems each of those genres faces in verisimilitude. For example, the discussions of placement of artillery and types of ammunition bring forth considerations that are ignored by most games on the market, especially the psychological effects.
Nosworthy sets out to write the definitive book, but falls short; but it's certainly the best attempt yet. He starts with the decades before the war, examining practices in Europe, and finishes with several excellent chapters which stand alone as essays. These discuss the place of the Civil War in military history and thinking. The discussions of tactical doctrine are enlivened by vivid anecdotes. This relieves the potentially dreary theoretical passages, but the jumps can be disorienting. Sometimes the anecdotes are on point, other times, their usefulness is questionable. It needs better editing, both on this scale and to fix the numerous smaller typos and editing problems.
Despite these misgivings, I'd highly recommend this book -- he examines many 'myths' of the Civil War, such as the diminished role of cavalry; the effectiveness of edged weapons; the rifled versus smoothbore controversy for both artillery and small arms. (If these topics don't pique your interest, the book's probably not for you). The bayonet discussions in particular are novel - while agreeing with the consensus view that bayonet wounds were rare, he makes the stronger argument that bayonet ATTACKS played a key role in many actions. The rifle-smoothbore discussions also provide an excellent view of the historical transitions and adjustments from the French Revolutionary army thru Napoleon and the Civil War to the German domination in 1870. He tries to overturn many long held truisms about the Civil War, but the evidence he presents varies in its persuasiveness. At the least, though, he provides alternatives for what is often by hindsight thought of as obvious -- e.g., the long discussions of rifled and breech loading weapons are shown to have many more considerations, such as difficulty of aiming (muskets fire at the level, while rifles fire on a parabolic curve and require more precise attention). Of sidebar interest too, is the dominance of Scientific American in the military debates of the 1840-60's. Its current emphasis on theoretical and cutting edge advances in pure science obscures thee fact that it in the 19th century a much stronger emphasis was on the engineering and mechanical arts.
This book is both larger and smaller than it seems at first glance and heft -- it's 750 pages long, but the print is larger than average and the paper is thick, making for a pleasant tactile feel. In content, the book wanders, sometimes dealing in broad strategic and tactical analysis, other times dropping down to the minutiae of combat anecdotes.
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Title: Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears ISBN: 0395867614 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 24 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg by Troy D. Harman ISBN: 0811700542 Publisher: Stackpole Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862 by Kendall D. Gott ISBN: 0811700496 Publisher: Stackpole Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock by Francis Augustin O'Reilly ISBN: 0807128090 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Chancellorsville by Stephen W. Sears ISBN: 039587744X Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 22 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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