As a leading Confederate general; Braxton Bragg (1817–1876) earned a reputation for incompetence; for wantonly shooting his own soldiers; and for losing battles. This public image established him not only as a scapegoat for the South's military failures but also as the chief whipping boy of the Confederacy. The strongly negative opinions of Bragg's contemporaries have continued to color assessments of the general's military career and character by generations of historians. Rather than take these assessments at face value; Earl J. Hess's biography offers a much more balanced account of Bragg; the man and the officer. While Hess analyzes Bragg's many campaigns and battles; he also emphasizes how his contemporaries viewed his successes and failures and how these reactions affected Bragg both personally and professionally. The testimony and opinions of other members of the Confederate army--including Bragg's superiors; his fellow generals; and his subordinates--reveal how the general became a symbol for the larger military failures that undid the Confederacy. By connecting the general's personal life to his military career; Hess positions Bragg as a figure saddled with unwarranted infamy and humanizes him as a flawed yet misunderstood figure in Civil War history.
#822499 in Books David Narrett 2015Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.43 x 1.16 x 6.56l; .0 #File Name: 1469618338392 pagesAdventurism and Empire The Struggle for Mastery in the Louisiana Florida Borderlands 1762 1803
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. review of david narretts adventurism and empireBy Jake BarteauI took this prof in college for a colonial America class. His lectures are well done but tends to use big words when more conversational tone would be appropriate. In this book he explains the precarious nature of borderlands in the early history of the United States; starting with the seven years war in 1763 and concluding with the Louisiana purchase in 1803; and what that means in native American and white relationships. The same idea applies... he could have made this book more readable with simpler language. ..the thesis is great but the way it is written could be simplified. Still....very good research on an interesting topic.
