Book Notes

BOOK NOTES The West Point Atlas ofAmerican Wars. Edited by Vincent J. Esposito. Two volumes, boxed. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1959, $47.50.) Once every decade or so appears a work that justìy qualifies as "excellent," "superb," and"unparalleled." Hereis such a study. Edited bythe Chairman of the Department of Military Art and Engineering at West Point, and with an introductory note of praise by President Eisenhower, this two-volume atìas contains over 400 detailed maps of America's battles from the capture of Louisburg in June, 1745, to the final defense line in Korea in July, 1953. Colonel Esposito has also added consistent symbols for easy understanding and valuable bibliographies for each of America's wars. Small wonder that this work has long been a standard text at the United States Military Academy, for it is comprehensive, its maps are amazingly easy to follow, and its content is intriguing in every sense of the word. Whether your interest lies in Civil War history (for which there are over 135 maps) or with another of our nation's conflicts, no serious student of American history should be without this set. This is a real must for understanding the clash of arms by which our nation has beenforged. A Portion of My Life. By W. M. Norman. (Winston-Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, 1959. Pp. x, 242. $4.00.) These reminiscences were written by an officer of the 28th North Carolina Infantry Regiment while imprisoned at Johnson's Island, Ohio. Half of the book treats of Captain Norman's prewar days, and his recollection of the three great battles in which he participated are scanty at the most. Yet he was an observantsoldier and remembered many little things other chroniclers overlooked . His description of the dead, dying, and debris following Fredericksburg is excellent. At Chancellorsville he remembered seeing Lee and Jackson placing broom straws on a box as if making brigade dispositions. His horror of war shone forth at Gettysburg, when he recalled four men being killed by one shell. He tended to minimize his own dangers and hardships in the army and lightìy passed over the fact that at Chancellorsville he and a private were the only survivors of their twenty-three-man company. Imprisoned at Johnson 's Island late in 1863, Norman spent the remainder of the war there, then made a three-month hike back to North Carolina, where he lived out his life as a farmer. This is a lively and altogether different soldier's narrative, and one readers will notlikely forget. 219 220CIVILWAH HISTORY Flight into Oblivion. By A. J. Hanna. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1959. Pp. xvii, 306. $5.00.) First published in 1938, this work is considered by many to be the best study of the flight of Davis and his cabinet from Richmond in the posthumous days of the Confederacy. A poignant and moving style vividly recaptures the tragedy and fearful moments of Davis, Breckinridge, Mallory, Benjamin, and other high Confederate officials as they raced southward in an attempt to elude pursuing Federal cavalry. The anxieties experienced at Danville, Charlotte, Abbeville, and Irwinville are recreated and supplemented by the pen sketches of John Rae. Dr. Hanna, now vice-president of Rollins College, has added a new foreword to this second edition of a fascinating facet of Civil War history. Against a backdrop of defeat and despair, here is real adventure skillfully reported. The Governor and His Lady. By Earl Conrad. (New York: G. P. Putnam 's Sons, 1960. Pp. 433. $5.95.) In this love triangle involving William H. Seward, his invalid wife, and the blazing politics of the Civil War period, Mrs. Seward by historical right is supposed to emerge on the short end. Instead, we see a foremost American statesman spending so many hours in tender company with his wife that one wonders if the days of the Civil War were lengthened to thirty hours for Seward's benefit. This study must be ranked as more fiction than history; much of it is conceived conversation. There is neither a bibliography to substantiate the author's reporting nor an index to check on the minor characters...