In 1861; Americans thought that the war looming on their horizon would be brief. None foresaw that they were embarking on our nation's worst calamity; a four-year bloodbath that cost the lives of more than half a million people. But as eminent Civil War historian Emory Thomas points out in this stimulating and provocative book; once the dogs of war are unleashed; it is almost impossible to rein them in. In The Dogs of War; Thomas highlights the delusions that dominated each side's thinking. Lincoln believed that most Southerners loved the Union; and would be dragged unwillingly into secession by the planter class. Jefferson Davis could not quite believe that Northern resolve would survive the first battle. Once the Yankees witnessed Southern determination; he hoped; they would acknowledge Confederate independence. These two leaders; in turn; reflected widely held myths. Thomas weaves his exploration of these misconceptions into a tense narrative of the months leading up to the war; from the "Great Secession Winter" to a fast-paced account of the Fort Sumter crisis in 1861. Emory M. Thomas's books demonstrate a breathtaking range of major Civil War scholarship; from The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience and the landmark The Confederate Nation; to definitive biographies of Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart. In The Dogs of War; he draws upon his lifetime of study to offer a new perspective on the outbreak of our national Iliad.
#591983 in Books 2006-02-23Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 4.70 x .60 x 6.70l; .55 #File Name: 0195160886304 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy GerryNever had read anything more interesting. Full of detail; not just general information.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. history book about a slave familyBy CustomerReally nice history story. Book was in great condition and arrived on time.1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. An extended yet focused case studyBy L. Speyer_Promised Land_ does indeed cover an interesting family. The true tales of the Thomas clan; descendents of a "semi-free" entrepreneuring slave in mid-ninteenth-century Nashville; have the potential to enlarge the boundaries of our imagination of American history. The telling is another matter: far less imaginative. Much of what one learns in _Promised Land_ one could get more amusingly and emotionally wrenchingly from Edward Jones's _The Known World_. If one prefers history in non-fiction; though; _Promised Land_ is a good bet.
