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Loading... McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Unionby Ethan Sepp Rafuse
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. In this book the author goes to some lengths to plumb the depths of McClellan's personal politics, and then puts this understanding in the context of Union high strategy and civil-military affairs through the duration of McClellan's command. The conclusion is that whatever Lil' Mac's virtues were as a general, and Rafuse is ready to pay due credit, the reality is that McClellan was so out of sorts with the administration's politics that he had to be removed, even if the timing was not exactly oppertune and the Lincoln administration was sometimes its own worst enemy. If there is a downside to this book it's that the author is on the staff of the Army's Command & General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, and this work sometimes has all the snap and sparkle of staff history. (  ) Shrike58 | May 22, 2008 |   no reviews | add a review
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This biography of the controversial Union general George B. McClellan examines the influences and political antecedents that shaped his behavior on the battlefield, behavior that so frustrated Lincoln and others in Washington that he was removed from his command soon after the Union loss at Antietam. Rather than take sides in the controversy, Ethan S. Rafuse finds in McClellan's politics and his desire to restore sectional harmony ample explanation for his actions. Rafuse sheds new light on the general who believed in the rule of reason and moderation, who sought a policy of conciliation with the South, and who wanted to manage the North's military resources in a way that would impose rational order on the battlefield.
"Rafuse's book . . . offers the most comprehensive account of McClellan's prewar life and military career available, buttressed with a convincing analysis, and is sure to alter current perceptions and future assessments of the general's role in Civil War history." --Providence Sunday Journal
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:23 -0400)
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