Witness To Gettysburg

Rating:
Summary: An excellent compliment to other Civil War histories....
Review: So I was in the 2nd book of Shelby Foote's 3 book narrative history of the Civil War when the battle of Gettysburg occurred. As happens with so many readers I became fascinated with the topic and had to temporarily postpone further reading of Shelby Foote's trilogy to drill-down into the battle of Gettysburg.

For me this drill-down into Gettysburg amounted to reading a biography of Joshua Chamberlain of 20th Maine and Little Round Top fame and this book on the Civil War. This book provides excellent elaboration of this topic. It is filled with 1st hand quotations of a wide variety of people from generals, to privates, to cavalry, to citizens. The book provides balanced coverage of both Union and Confederate sides. And the book does a decent job of placing the battle in context of the larger war, although of course not nearly a deep and extensive lead-in as provided by Shelby Foote. I enjoyed this book. If I was reading just one book about the Civil War, this book is of course too narrow in scope. But if one is reading many books on the topic, then this book provides excellent detail and insight into one of the most important and interesting battles of the Civil War.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad but only for real Civil War buffs.
Review: The use of actual witness accounts is an interesting technique but it creates a read which is not vey focused. Each witness, telling their own part of the grand story, takes it in their own direction. The result is a lot of tangents that make it difficult to focus on the details of the battle. This should be the fourth or fifth book on Gettysburg you read, not the first.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable & Easy To Read Account Of This Famous Battle
Review: This book offers an interesting account of the Battle of Gettysburg as seen through the eyes of participants, both North & South, and civilian witnesses like towns folk and such. Not a detailed account of the battle but certianly a very easy to read and enjoyable (if you can say such about a terrible battle) story about this period of history. The use of first person accounts/recollections fits in with the historical narrative of the author which makes this book a pleasure to read.