Regarded as the standard biography of World War II naval hero Adm. Raymond A. Spruance; this work is now available in trade paperback for the first time. Spruance; victor of the battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea and commander of the Fifth Fleet in the invasions of the Gilberts; the Marshalls; the Marianas; and Okinawa; is one of the towering figures in American naval history. Yet his reserved; cerebral personality did not make “good copy†for correspondents; and until the publication of The Quiet Warrior he remained an elusive figure. Thomas Buell has succeeded in evoking the nature of the man as well as recording the achievements of the admiral in this brilliant biography; which won the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement the year of its publication.
#1255376 in Books 2011-09-28 2011-09-28Format: Box setOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 2 10.70 x 3.10 x 7.70l; 7.75 #File Name: 1589808533848 pages
Review
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. Interesting View of Historical EraBy D_shrinkThis is a nicely bound two volume set consisting of Mary's Diary in volume I; 400pp; and an accompanying photo album in Volume II 457pp. The set is printed on high quality glossy paper; which helps the 200 plus B/W photos included in volume two to stand out. They are mostly carte de visites; but as with the smaller size of graphics in volume I there are a few paintings; etchings; drawings and other forms of art included.Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut was as southern grand dame of the civil war era. She was a confederate sympathizer as one would expect due to her lineage and the fact that her husband was a US Senator representing SC who resigned to take a position in the Confederacy and also held a position as a Maj. Gen in the CSA. The primary period covered by the book was from about 1840-1880; although historical facts and diary entries were made before and after those dates. It should be known that although Mary strongly supported the South's right to secession and states rights; she stated she was against slavery and found it abhorrent; although she and her husband and their families owned slaves throughout much of the period of her writings. The reader will have to rectify those opposing opinions for himself/herself.Mary's husband James died in 1885; followed five days later by her mother; with Mary following on 11-22-1886; due to a heart condition.Mary's writing always seems to be in a superlative descriptive voice e.g. ( he was the grandest; most handsome; most talented; she was the loveliest; and etc.) This may seem a bit overdone today; but would have been a more typical speech pattern of the times when written. One of the interesting facts I learned was that a derogatory term for a Confederate to be forced to pledge allegiance to the Union was called "SWALLOWING THE DOG".This 2 volume set makes a nice adjunct to several other books about the period including the Pulitzer Prize winning historical book about Mary Chesnut by C Vann Woodward written in 1981 and called Mary Chesnut's Civil War and another book the I also especially enjoyed about Charleston History of the approximate same period and written about another Charlestonian named Mary and called Mary's World : Love; War; and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston. These books are all for the history minded of the aforementioned periods; and I can recommend them all for those inclined to such study.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Moving Yet Acessable Account Of WarBy thirdtwinThere are at least three different published versions of Mary Chestnut's journalized view of the civil war- this one is slightly longer than the other two I've bought and the pictures help put it even more in the context of its time. A personalized view of the horrors of war- and a detailed view of the feelings being there brought out in one woman. One of the better readily available personal diaries from this period that isn't just gathering dust in an archive somewhere.11 of 12 people found the following review helpful. A Missed OpportunityBy Vernon EggerThis publication has two volumes in a handsome boxed set. Its accomplishment lies solely in the volume that contains a set of photographs belonging to Mary Chesnut that had been lost to her descendants for decades until 2007. For those who have read her account of her experiences during the Civil War; it is a valuable contribution; because most of the people in the photos are mentioned in the book. The photo album not only reproduces the photographs; but also includes well-written mini-biographies of the persons in the photos.The other volume is a major disappointment. It is a reprint; on fine-quality paper; of a woefully deficient edition of Chesnut's manuscript that was published more than a century ago. Chesnut had kept diaries of her experiences during the war; and after the war she wanted to publish the accounts in a style that was more literary than the jottings in her diaries. She died in 1886 before she was able to finish the manuscript; and her close friend Isabella Martin finally published a version of it in 1905. The published version; however; contained only one-third of the manuscript and deliberately omitted passages that Martin was afraid would give offense to Southerners. This; unfortunately; is the version of the manuscript that is reprinted in the boxed set. It was rendered obsolete and misleading more than thirty years ago by the Pulitzer-prize-winning 1981 edition of the manuscript by C. Van Woodward; which restored the vast amount of information that is missing in the Martin edition of 1905. Moreover; soon after he published his book; Woodward collaborated with Chesnut's biographer Elizabeth Muhlenfeld to publish an edition of the original diaries from which Chesnut worked while developing the manuscript that she wanted to publish. It contains fascinating information that Chesnut had excluded from the manuscript.By including an expensive new edition of the Martin version of the manuscript with the photographic album; the price of the combined volumes is very high for what the reader obtains. It is a shame that the outstanding photo album was not published in a stand-alone volume so that readers could supplement it with Woodward's "Mary Chesnut's Civil War" and Woodward and Muhlenfeld's "The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries." (For further clarification; the Catherine Clinton version of Chesnut's work; published by Penguin in 2011; is also a reprint of the Martin edition; the version edited by the novelist Ben Williams was originally published in 1949; it includes more of the manuscript than Martin did; but he inserted material of his own without attribution and made many mistakes in the transcription.)The inclusion of the Martin edition of Chesnut's work in the boxed set was a regrettable decision in light of the needless expense it entails for purchasers of the product; but the photographic album is so good (its value is enhanced by a list of the page numbers in the Martin version; the Woodward version; and this reprint of the Martin version; where the reader can find the passages in which Chesnut mentions the individuals in each photo); that I feel compelled to give four stars; rather than fewer.
