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Rating: 
Summary: With My Face to the Enemy
Review: A star-studded cast, but not a lot of topical or scholarly innovation in this collection of essays. Many of the essays seem to be simple narratives of battles that whole books have been published about elsewhere. There are some interesting bits -- Griffith's article on tactics is a bright spot, as is Trudeau on entrenchment. In this sort of work, though, I'm really looking for more innovative, new scholarship, and that's not what I see here.I'm unable to refrain from mentioning that I feel the concept of Jackson having a "learning disability" is poppycock. I recommend Robertson's biography of the general.
Rating:
Summary: Collection of Magazine articles is good, but inconsistent
Review: Essay collections are hard to review. You always wind up with something you liked, something you didn't, and a few things you were surprised by, either pleasantly or otherwise. This book is no exception: while some of the essays in here are worthwhile, some are less wonderful, or otherwise uneven.
One real difficulty is that there's nothing new here at all: every "essay" in this book was previously published in Military History Quarterly. This means that if you subscribed to that magazine, you'd have all these articles already, and you wouldn't need this book. The only thing you'd get by having this is that Robert Cowley writes an introduction for every piece, but as noted elsewhere, he cribs his intros from the articles themselves, with the result that you almost read a short version of the piece before reading it itself. Some of the articles are also taken from larger books, so that you may wind up reading those twice before getting to this book. And as noted, there are no illustrations, maps, footnotes, index, bibliography, or any of the other stuff that you'd expect in a book like this. It sort of cripples the usefulness of the book, to be honest, for anything other than entertainment.
I've enjoyed stuff Cowley has done elsewhere (the What If? stuff, especially), but he and his publisher need to work on how these books are presented.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine, but flawed, collection
Review: I am greatly torn over whether to give With My Face to the Enemy three or four stars. Four stars ultimately prevails because it seems to me that just about any book about the Civil War is almost by definition worth reading, and there is much in With My Face to the Enemy that will please both Civil War aficionados and those with but a passing interest. Of particular moment are two articles about the Confederate pirate ships (and let's be honest, they *were* pirate ships sans the physical violence) Alabama and Shenandoah, which reveal the genuinely global reach of the conflict. Every article has something to recommend it, even if, like Stephen Sears' essay on Chancellorsville, you've read it all before. But there are some flaws, too. Most glaring and annoying is the lack of an index. Is there any Civil War student who does not rush to the index first to find references to his (or her) favorite general or battle? No such luck here; you'll have to read the entire book for those brief references to Howard, Hancock, McPherson, et al. Second, the articles lack two of the major selling points of military history magazines - color maps and illustrations. Now, I'm a big boy and I don't *need* pictures with my text, but often the art that accompanies an MHQ article is more powerful than the text. Third, there is a fault that lies with far too many Civil War pieces: biographies of important figures devolving into hagiographies. For too many Civil War biographers their subject can do, and did no, wrong. Crowley himself uses the word "hagiography" in one of his introductions. Whether it's Stonewall or Lee, or Admiral Porter or Sheridan, the lavish praise becomes tiring. And the final gripe to be made is toward Crowley's introductions, which borrow too liberally from the essays, adding nothing yet stealing the thunder of the contributors. (The same complaint can be made of Crowley's introductions to the What If? series.) These are not much more than petty gripes, however. The Civil War remains a fascinating topic, and With My Face to the Enemy provides a wide range of essays covering many areas of the war. The collection deserves a spot on the bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Fine, but flawed, collection
Review: I am greatly torn over whether to give With My Face to the Enemy three or four stars. Four stars ultimately prevails because it seems to me that just about any book about the Civil War is almost by definition worth reading, and there is much in With My Face to the Enemy that will please both Civil War aficionados and those with but a passing interest. Of particular moment are two articles about the Confederate pirate ships (and let's be honest, they *were* pirate ships sans the physical violence) Alabama and Shenandoah, which reveal the genuinely global reach of the conflict. Every article has something to recommend it, even if, like Stephen Sears' essay on Chancellorsville, you've read it all before. But there are some flaws, too. Most glaring and annoying is the lack of an index. Is there any Civil War student who does not rush to the index first to find references to his (or her) favorite general or battle? No such luck here; you'll have to read the entire book for those brief references to Howard, Hancock, McPherson, et al. Second, the articles lack two of the major selling points of military history magazines - color maps and illustrations. Now, I'm a big boy and I don't *need* pictures with my text, but often the art that accompanies an MHQ article is more powerful than the text. Third, there is a fault that lies with far too many Civil War pieces: biographies of important figures devolving into hagiographies. For too many Civil War biographers their subject can do, and did no, wrong. Crowley himself uses the word "hagiography" in one of his introductions. Whether it's Stonewall or Lee, or Admiral Porter or Sheridan, the lavish praise becomes tiring. And the final gripe to be made is toward Crowley's introductions, which borrow too liberally from the essays, adding nothing yet stealing the thunder of the contributors. (The same complaint can be made of Crowley's introductions to the What If? series.) These are not much more than petty gripes, however. The Civil War remains a fascinating topic, and With My Face to the Enemy provides a wide range of essays covering many areas of the war. The collection deserves a spot on the bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read.
Review: I suppose for the real Civil War authority, there is nothing really new in Cowley's collection of essays. After all, virtually every included author is a well-known historian with an established reputation and style. One should not, therefore, expect the manifestation of any of the trendy new theories that are all the rage among the professorial elite as they seek to repaint the motivations of 19th Century characters in light our own media-dominated society and their personal palette of political correctness. Thank goodness for that. Nevertheless, they are an excellent read. Each of the insightful chronicles place the reader in dramatic and immediate proximity to the historical record, in lucid detail, without resort to an exhaustive account lasting hundreds of pages. For those who unfortunately cannot live their lives immersed in research, this collection of essays provides a Civil War carte du jour doled out in delicious slices. The value of the book is undiminished because we've read it all before. Even those with extensive Civil War libraries will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A uneven potpourri
Review: It's pretty much common sense that Anthologies are a real mixed bag but With My Face to the Enemy is more than the average. This compilation has some wonderful stuff and to be honest one or two that I'm surprised got past the editor considering the factual errors they have. On the good side you have some really first rate pieces. Stephen Sears comes through with some great stuff as usual with 'The Last Word on the Lost Order', 'The Ordeal of General Stone' and 'Malvern Hill'. However these works can be found in his book "Controversies and Commanders" or his book on the Peninsula Campaign. Still there are other less well known writers in addition to the well known ones like Sears, Gallagher and McPherson, to make this worth picking up. Robert Jones' Rebel Without a War sticks out as exceptional as does John Taylor's 'The Crater' and two different articles that cover Col William Oates and Col Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain 'The Antagonists of Little Round Top'. On the bad side a few of the article lean a bit towards the dry side and some factual errors, especially in Tom Flemming's 'Band of Brothers'. The article makes a number of factual errors such as stating that General Richard Garnett rode in Pickett's Charge because he was to sick with fever to walk. The commonly known truth however is that Garnett had been kicked by a horse and his leg was still very sore for him to walk. Flemming also repeats the old fable that Grant sent an engraved silver serving set across the battle lines at Petersburg to George and Sally Pickett as a present when their son was born. However this story is widely known to be a fictional creation of Sally Pickett's after the war. So in the end there's just enough first rate material to make the book worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Various perspectives.
Review: This book carries a similar format to books that look at the "hows" and "whys" of a battle, but instead follows popular events in the Civil War. Featuring and all-star cast of writers such as Gallagher and Sears, the book covers a variety of topics concerning subjects like Lee, Jackson, Grant, Vicksburg, Forrest at Fort Pillow, Union prisons, Sherman, Sheridan and many others. I have to admit the lack of references was disappointing as at times writer opinion versus fact were questionable. A majority of the chapters did offer interesting insight and tried to look at either popular misconceptions or myths surrounding the subjects. There is over 500 pages of material here that offer the advanced student of the Civil War possible new insight to events. I couldn't recommend this book to novice readers as a majority of the topics seem to be written in the assumption of past reader knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: Various perspectives.
Review: This book carries a similar format to books that look at the "hows" and "whys" of a battle, but instead follows popular events in the Civil War. Featuring and all-star cast of writers such as Gallagher and Sears, the book covers a variety of topics concerning subjects like Lee, Jackson, Grant, Vicksburg, Forrest at Fort Pillow, Union prisons, Sherman, Sheridan and many others. I have to admit the lack of references was disappointing as at times writer opinion versus fact were questionable. A majority of the chapters did offer interesting insight and tried to look at either popular misconceptions or myths surrounding the subjects. There is over 500 pages of material here that offer the advanced student of the Civil War possible new insight to events. I couldn't recommend this book to novice readers as a majority of the topics seem to be written in the assumption of past reader knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: Various perspectives.
Review: This book carries a similar format to books that look at the "hows" and "whys" of a battle, but instead follows popular events in the Civil War. Featuring and all-star cast of writers such as Gallagher and Sears, the book covers a variety of topics concerning subjects like Lee, Jackson, Grant, Vicksburg, Forrest at Fort Pillow, Union prisons, Sherman, Sheridan and many others. I have to admit the lack of references was disappointing as at times writer opinion versus fact were questionable. A majority of the chapters did offer interesting insight and tried to look at either popular misconceptions or myths surrounding the subjects. There is over 500 pages of material here that offer the advanced student of the Civil War possible new insight to events. I couldn't recommend this book to novice readers as a majority of the topics seem to be written in the assumption of past reader knowledge.
Rating: 
Summary: nice mix
Review: This collection of essays, compiled by Donald and Cowley, is a real treat. It offers a nice mix of storylines from both Union and Confederate perspectives. Maps abound to assist the text pertaining to various battles/troop movements. A word of caution, however - these essays have been collected from past issues of Military History Quarterly. This may explain why no notes or bibliographies are offered. Many of these offerings present novel twists on Civil War subjects - Lincoln's genius with the English language, Charles Stone's ordeal with the Federal legislature and Nathan Bedford Forrest's role at Ft. Pillow are just three of 30+ topics brought to bear. Finally, on a structural note, this book is 500+ pages of somewhat small print.
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