Overview

"William Tecumseh Sherman, a West Point graduate and veteran of the Seminole War, became one of the best-known generals in the Civil War. His March to the Sea, which resulted in a devastated swath of the South from Atlanta to Savannah, cemented his place in history as the pioneer of total war. In The Scourge of War, preeminent military historian Brian Holden Reid offers a deeply researched life and times account of Sherman. By examining his childhood and education, his business ventures in California, his antebellum leadership of a military college in Louisiana, and numerous career false starts, Holden Reid shows how unlikely his exceptional Civil War career would seem. He also demonstrates how crucial his family was to his professional path, particularly his wife's intervention during the war. He analyzes Sherman's development as a battlefield commander and especially his crucial friendships with Henry W. Halleck and Ulysses S. Grant. In doing so, he details how Sherman overcame both his weaknesses as a leader and severe depression to mature as a military strategist. Central chapters narrate closely Sherman's battlefield career and the gradual lifting of his pessimism that the Union would be defeated. After the war, Sherman became a popular figure in the North and the founder of the school for officers at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, known as the ""intellectual center of the army."" Holden Reid argues that Sherman was not hostile to the South throughout his life and only in later years gained a reputation as a villain who practiced barbaric destruction, particularly as the neo-Confederate Lost Cause grew and he published one of the first personal accounts of the war.A definitive biography of a preeminent military figure by a renowned military historian, The Scourge of War is a masterful account of Sherman' life that fully recognizes his intellect, strategy, and actions during the Civil War."

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9780195392739

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Reviews

In this thoroughly researched and beautifully crafted work, a master historian has produced a strikingly original book, keenly sensitive to context and brimming with insights. Surely it is destined to become the standard biography of this iconic general, debunking many myths and enlarging our understanding of the man, his times, his wars, and his contribution to saving the United States at its most vulnerable time. If you can read one book about the military aspects of the American Civil War, make it this one. --Richard H. Kohn, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Deeply researched, nuanced in judgment, and compellingly readable, this is military biography at its best. With both microscope and panoramic lens, Brian Holden Reid gives focus to Sherman's complex character, the interplay of his intellect and action, and his shrewd grasp of operational logistics and strategy, while also assessing his place within the broad stream of modern military development. An outstanding achievement. --Richard Carwardine, Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University Comprehensively researched and convincingly presented, this work by a leading British scholar of the Civil War brings a fresh perspective to a complex subject. Combining a powerful intellect with a capacity to learn from experience, Sherman understood with stark clarity war's central feature: inherent destructiveness, physical and psychological. In demonstrating his response, Holden Reid comes as close to a definitive military biography of Sherman as we are likely to see. --Dennis Showalter, author of Instrument of War: The German Army, 1914-18 Brian Holden Reid, one of the most accomplished military historians in the world, has written a rich, incisive biography of William Tecumseh Sherman. Drawing on his expansive background in military history, he is able to offer analyses that are original, perceptive, and refreshing. The Scourge of War is a must read for Civil War and military historians. --Joseph T. Glatthaar, author of American Military History: A Very Short Introduction

In this thoroughly researched and beautifully crafted work, a master historian has produced a strikingly original book, keenly sensitive to context and brimming with insights. Surely it is destined to become the standard biography of this iconic general, debunking many myths and enlarging our understanding of the man, his times, his wars, and his contribution to saving the United States at its most vulnerable time. If you can read one book about the military aspects of the American Civil War, make it this one. --Richard H. Kohn, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Deeply researched, nuanced in judgment, and compellingly readable, this is military biography at its best. With both microscope and panoramic lens, Brian Holden Reid gives focus to Sherman's complex character, the interplay of his intellect and action, and his shrewd grasp of operational logistics and strategy, while also assessing his place within the broad stream of modern military development. An outstanding achievement. --Richard Carwardine, Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University Comprehensively researched and convincingly presented, this work by a leading British scholar of the Civil War brings a fresh perspective to a complex subject. Combining a powerful intellect with a capacity to learn from experience, Sherman understood with stark clarity war's central feature: inherent destructiveness, physical and psychological. In demonstrating his response, Holden Reid comes as close to a definitive military biography of Sherman as we are likely to see. --Dennis Showalter, author of Instrument of War: The German Army, 1914-18 Brian Holden Reid, one of the most accomplished military historians in the world, has written a rich, incisive biography of William Tecumseh Sherman. Drawing on his expansive background in military history, he is able to offer analyses that are original, perceptive, and refreshing. The Scourge of War is a must read for Civil War and military historians. --Joseph T. Glatthaar, author of American Military History: A Very Short Introduction The author's capable blending of biographical facts with larger issues makes his study particularly valuable... The most complete and wide-ranging of recent biographies of Sherman. --Kirkus Filled with historical insight and commentary... Sherman's strikingly individualistic personality shines throughout this crisply written biography and Reid's refined opinions are welcome. --Civil War News In this compelling and lucid reassessment of William Tecumseh Sherman, Reid dispels the myths and misreadings of the commanding general of the Union Army... Sometimes argumentative but always insightful, this study of Sherman ranks among the best renderings of the man and the conduct of the Civil War, and will help readers reconsider Sherman's character and the discipline necessary to succeed in war. --Library Journal

In this thoroughly researched and beautifully crafted work, a master historian has produced a strikingly original book, keenly sensitive to context and brimming with insights. Surely it is destined to become the standard biography of this iconic general, debunking many myths and enlarging our understanding of the man, his times, his wars, and his contribution to saving the United States at its most vulnerable time. If you can read one book about the military aspects of the American Civil War, make it this one. --Richard H. Kohn, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Deeply researched, nuanced in judgment, and compellingly readable, this is military biography at its best. With both microscope and panoramic lens, Brian Holden Reid gives focus to Sherman's complex character, the interplay of his intellect and action, and his shrewd grasp of operational logistics and strategy, while also assessing his place within the broad stream of modern military development. An outstanding achievement. --Richard Carwardine, Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University Comprehensively researched and convincingly presented, this work by a leading British scholar of the Civil War brings a fresh perspective to a complex subject. Combining a powerful intellect with a capacity to learn from experience, Sherman understood with stark clarity war's central feature: inherent destructiveness, physical and psychological. In demonstrating his response, Holden Reid comes as close to a definitive military biography of Sherman as we are likely to see. --Dennis Showalter, author of Instrument of War: The German Army, 1914-18 Brian Holden Reid, one of the most accomplished military historians in the world, has written a rich, incisive biography of William Tecumseh Sherman. Drawing on his expansive background in military history, he is able to offer analyses that are original, perceptive, and refreshing. The Scourge of War is a must read for Civil War and military historians. --Joseph T. Glatthaar, author of American Military History: A Very Short Introduction The author's capable blending of biographical facts with larger issues makes his study particularly valuable... The most complete and wide-ranging of recent biographies of Sherman. --Kirkus Filled with historical insight and commentary... Sherman's strikingly individualistic personality shines throughout this crisply written biography and Reid's refined opinions are welcome. --Civil War News In this compelling and lucid reassessment of William Tecumseh Sherman, Reid dispels the myths and misreadings of the commanding general of the Union Army... Sometimes argumentative but always insightful, this study of Sherman ranks among the best renderings of the man and the conduct of the Civil War, and will help readers reconsider Sherman's character and the discipline necessary to succeed in war. --Library Journal Magisterial... Writing with impressive scholarship and an intimate grasp of Civil War tactics and strategy, Mr. Reid, who teaches history at King's College London, explodes these persistent fictions and delivers a subtle portrait of one of the most sophisticated military men in U.S. history... In this fine rendering of a bold and complicated life, Mr. Reid has, in short, given us a remarkable man whose name has long been a household word but whom we may never have really known before. --Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street Journal

In this thoroughly researched and beautifully crafted work, a master historian has produced a strikingly original book, keenly sensitive to context and brimming with insights. Surely it is destined to become the standard biography of this iconic general, debunking many myths and enlarging our understanding of the man, his times, his wars, and his contribution to saving the United States at its most vulnerable time. If you can read one book about the military aspects of the American Civil War, make it this one. --Richard H. Kohn, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Deeply researched, nuanced in judgment, and compellingly readable, this is military biography at its best. With both microscope and panoramic lens, Brian Holden Reid gives focus to Sherman's complex character, the interplay of his intellect and action, and his shrewd grasp of operational logistics and strategy, while also assessing his place within the broad stream of modern military development. An outstanding achievement. --Richard Carwardine, Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University Comprehensively researched and convincingly presented, this work by a leading British scholar of the Civil War brings a fresh perspective to a complex subject. Combining a powerful intellect with a capacity to learn from experience, Sherman understood with stark clarity war's central feature: inherent destructiveness, physical and psychological. In demonstrating his response, Holden Reid comes as close to a definitive military biography of Sherman as we are likely to see. --Dennis Showalter, author of Instrument of War: The German Army, 1914-18 Brian Holden Reid, one of the most accomplished military historians in the world, has written a rich, incisive biography of William Tecumseh Sherman. Drawing on his expansive background in military history, he is able to offer analyses that are original, perceptive, and refreshing. The Scourge of War is a must read for Civil War and military historians. --Joseph T. Glatthaar, author of American Military History: A Very Short Introduction The author's capable blending of biographical facts with larger issues makes his study particularly valuable... The most complete and wide-ranging of recent biographies of Sherman. --Kirkus

In this compelling and lucid reassessment of William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-91), Reid (King's Coll. London; America's Civil War) dispels the myths and misreadings of the commanding general of the Union Army and, later, secretary of war, recasting him as a man of wide intellectual interests who understood that winning demanded strategic vision and assiduous planning. Reid's Sherman grew from an officer unsure of himself to a confident general at once bold in thought, meticulous in planning, and deft and decisive in action....Sometimes argumentative but always insightful, this study of Sherman ranks among the best renderings of the man and the conduct of the Civil War, and will help readers reconsider Sherman's character and the discipline necessary to succeed in war. * Library Journal *

Author Information

Brian Holden Reid is Professor of American History and Military Institutions at King's College London. He is the author of Robert E. Lee: Icon of a Nation, The Civil War and the Wars of the Nineteenth Century, and America's Civil War: The Operational Battlefield, 1861-1863, among other books. In 2019, he was awarded the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History for his contributions to the field.

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