Joseph Wheeler, and: From Shiloh to San Juan (review)

96CI VIL WAR HISTOR Y The CivilWar inAmerica. By Alan Barker. (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday or Company, Inc., 1961. Pp. ix, 182. $2.95.) most synthetical writings on the civil war are undistinguished. This book is a rare exception. It is all the more unique because the author is an Englishman and a writer of British history. After one year of study in the United States, he produced this volume for his countrymen, and succeeded remarkably well in his purpose of writing for the student and the general public alike. He has met an urgent publication need in the British Isles, for this American printing comes to a Centenary market suffering from a dearth of brief, high-standard treatments. The book is something less of a survey of the war than of its preliminaries, consequences, and significance. Of a total of nine chapters, five are devoted to its origins and causes, while but two, primarily non-military, treat the war —one from the viewpoint of the North, the other from that of the South. The reader is captivated by the brilliant opening chapter on the importance of the conflict, and is led out of the volume by a thoughtful essay on the problems and impact of the restoration period. This unique organization is one of the book's strong points, assuming that the average reader has little interest in the details of military history. Able condensations, vivid imageries, judicious combinations of facts and interpretations, plus well-chosen quotations, all combine to make exciting pages. The author's treatment of the foreign relations of North and South is especially refreshing and illuminating. While the reader probably will not always be in agreement with the explanations of the book, he will inevitably find them reflective and stimulating. Several errors in fact should have been caught, the final chapter is perhaps too sentimental, and the reading list gives evidence of a limited grasp of the literature of the field. Nevertheless, an Englishman has probably accomplished for the Civil War what his compatriot Lord Chamwood, achieved for Abraham Lincoln. LeRoy H. Fischer Oklahoma State University Joseph Wheeler. By T. C. De Leon. (Kennesaw, Ga.: Continental Book Company, 1960. Pp. 142. $6.00.) From Shiloh to San Juan. By John P. Dyer. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961. Pp. viii, 275. $5.00.) little joe rides again! Out of the dim but not forgotten past the tiny mite of a Rebel general rides through the pages of two new publications designed to bring him to the forefront of public notice in 1961, as did his famous exploits almost a century ago. Needless to say, the literary race in which the current Wheeler entries are forced to compete is every bit as tough as the military competition the General himself faced during his lifetime, and its success is just as uncertain. Book Reviews97 The first entry that carries Fightin' Joe's colors in the Centennial Literary Race is a reprint of an 1899 book called Joseph Wheeler. By almost any standard of current literary competition, this entry is inadequate to carry its daring hero to any forward position in history. Its shortcomings are obvious to even the casual observer. It balks in the face of criticism, shys away from the faintest hint of controversy, becomes saturated with the drippings from its own sentimentality, and at the end of its journey reels at the point of total collapse. On those rare occasions when the entry is spurred on in a burst of objectivity , its forward progress is checked by meaningless generalities. Otherwise, it finds itself bound up in a tangle of eulogies that sound like the introduction of an influential politicen by an ardent office-seeker. If this literary pony has merit, it is its sincerity and devotion toward the subject it is supposed to carry to glory. Yet it is not unreasonable to assume that Fightin' Joe himself would have been thankful for the brevity of the ride he was forced to make on its 142 pages. Luckily for Little Joe, those looking out for his interests brought along another entry to the Centennial Race. Answering to the name of From Shiloh to San...