Rating: 
Summary: The Best Of Sears
Review: "Chancellorsville" is the finest work to date by the author, Stephen Sears. The book is incredibly well researched, covering events before, during and after the battle. Unlike some of Sears' earlier works (e.g., "Landscape Turned Red: The Battle Of Antietam"), I found "Chancellorsville" to be an even-handed, unbiased account of events. The book is an easy read and will be understood even by the novice Civil War buff. If I had to point out one weakness, it would be Sears' lack of details concerning certain parts of the battle. The author certainly did extensive research and possessed the information - it was simply not included in the text. But then I am thinking of the type of detail presented in the masterpieces by John M. Priest on South Mountain and Antietam. Perhaps such detail was not the goal of Sears. In any event, Sears has written an informative and insightful book - an honor and a delight to read.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Of Sears
Review: "Chancellorsville" is the finest work to date by the author, Stephen Sears. The book is incredibly well researched, covering events before, during and after the battle. Unlike some of Sears' earlier works (e.g., "Landscape Turned Red: The Battle Of Antietam"), I found "Chancellorsville" to be an even-handed, unbiased account of events. The book is an easy read and will be understood even by the novice Civil War buff. If I had to point out one weakness, it would be Sears' lack of details concerning certain parts of the battle. The author certainly did extensive research and possessed the information - it was simply not included in the text. But then I am thinking of the type of detail presented in the masterpieces by John M. Priest on South Mountain and Antietam. Perhaps such detail was not the goal of Sears. In any event, Sears has written an informative and insightful book - an honor and a delight to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Superlative
Review: As a non-Civil War buff, I never thought I could make it through an entire book about a single battle. I couldn't have been more wrong. Sears' superlatively written, authoritatively researched book was absolutely engrossing. Sears includes details that give the story a novelistic feel. For example, the book opens with a shocking scene in which two Union generals visit Abraham Lincoln to request that he get rid of Ambrose Burnside, then the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Sears goes on to chronicle the big decisions and little mistakes that ended up turning the tide in a critical Civil War battle.
Rating:
Summary: Good History of Battle
Review: Chancellorsville by Stephen W. Sears is mostly a wonderful read, which at times bogs down in the mountain of details that Sears injects into the narrative. I have read other books by Sears, and while I enjoyed his book on Antietam more, Chancellorsville is a marvelous history of the battle and the campaign that led to the battle. The books strength is in his description of the two leaders, Hooker and Lee.The conventional wisdom is that Hooker was an egotistical general whose only qualification was this ability to undermine General Burnside. On the other hand, the battle is seen as Lee's finest hour, where his brilliant plan led to a rout of the Union forces. Sears proves both wrong. Hooker took over a highly demoralized Army of the Potomac and through planning and his own charisma was able to revitalize it into a fighting force that came close to destroying the Confederate Army. His planning of the Campaign was unmatched in the Civil War. He even anticipated the flanking action that eventually lost him the battle, and had warned the commander of the 11th Corp. However, his warnings were ignored. Lee, on the other hand took a risk that could have ultimately led to the destruction of the Confederate Army. His decision to split his Army twice, leaving a part at Fredericksburg and then allowing Jackson to attempt to out flank Hooker, should have led to disaster. If Howard had listened to Hooker it would have. However, it did not and Lee is remembered as the genius of Chancellorsville. This is so even though his Army suffered a greater percentage of casualties then the Union forces. The battle of Chancellorsville proves Napoleon's axiom: "Bring me lucky generals." At Chancellorsville Lee became a genius as a result.
Rating:
Summary: Making Sense of a Complex Campaign
Review: Chancellorsville is one of the American Civil War's most complex campaigns and battles. At the campaign level, the challenge of understanding Joe Hooker presents a significant challenge to students of history. Too easily he is dismissed as either a drunkard or a hollow man, full of bravado but not to be seen once the guns open fire. At the battle level, Chancellorsville has the kinds of tactical movements that are rarely seen in eastern theater battles. The "left hook" at Chancellorsville and subsequent attack/counterattack in the center of the Federal line produced a series of complex interactions rarely seen in a civil war battle. Sears makes sense of Chancellorsville, or at least presents the facts, and helps the reader and student better piece together puzzle of what happened in that campaign. Sears does not accept the pat arguments against Hooker, and makes his case to recessitate some of Hooker's image. Whether Sears is correct or not in his interpretation, the point is to reconsider all the standard epitahs that historical figures have; once you do so, you get a better understanding of the forces that shaped the development of history, especially military history. Sears' book on Chancellorsville is indispensible for students of the Civil War and the battle itself. It is a vital resource and good, engaging historiography.
Rating:
Summary: Making Sense of a Complex Campaign
Review: Chancellorsville is one of the American Civil War's most complex campaigns and battles. At the campaign level, the challenge of understanding Joe Hooker presents a significant challenge to students of history. Too easily he is dismissed as either a drunkard or a hollow man, full of bravado but not to be seen once the guns open fire. At the battle level, Chancellorsville has the kinds of tactical movements that are rarely seen in eastern theater battles. The "left hook" at Chancellorsville and subsequent attack/counterattack in the center of the Federal line produced a series of complex interactions rarely seen in a civil war battle. Sears makes sense of Chancellorsville, or at least presents the facts, and helps the reader and student better piece together puzzle of what happened in that campaign. Sears does not accept the pat arguments against Hooker, and makes his case to recessitate some of Hooker's image. Whether Sears is correct or not in his interpretation, the point is to reconsider all the standard epitahs that historical figures have; once you do so, you get a better understanding of the forces that shaped the development of history, especially military history. Sears' book on Chancellorsville is indispensible for students of the Civil War and the battle itself. It is a vital resource and good, engaging historiography.
Rating:
Summary: Lee's Greatest Victory
Review: Chancellorsville is probably the most fasinating battle of all time. It was in the midst of the Confederate march towards winning the war and their freedom. After three bloody years of fighting, The Army of the Potomac had been unable to subdue the confederacy. Finally, on May 1, the confederacy who was extremely pumped up, to say the least, after their victory at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, Lee decided to march northward. The Army of the Potomac and The Army of Northern Virgina met in the the rugged landscape known as the wilderness. The battle of Chancellorsville is most widely known as The Confederacys "most hallowed victory." They lost Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, one of the best generals the army had ever had on May 10, 1863. Jackson was riding back to the confederate headqaurters at night when he was shot by two of his own soldiers. The soldiers thought it was a union spy, but unfortunantly it wasn't. Jackson died two days afterward, not by the gun shot wounds, but of pneumonia. You will learn a great deal of Jackson's twenty-one mile march around the unions right flank, And how he managed to destroy one whole corps of the union army. You will hear stories of courage, patronage, and sacrifice as you relive this heroic battle through the eyes of the soldiers that were in it. The Battle of Chancellorsville will live on as one of the great battles of all time.
Rating: 
Summary: So, why did Gen. Hooker lose?
Review: I have but little to add to the other reviews of this book, some of which are very good reads in themselves, but I thought that I'd share one thought about it: Mr. Sears goes to great pains to vindicate Gen. Hooker's handling of the battle, including taking what I consider to be some unnecessary cheap shots at several of his subordinates (excepting Gen. Howard, about whom little good could be said), but, when finished reading it, I had to ask myself, "well, how then DID Gen. Hooker lose this battle?" I felt that Mr. Sears did little to explain just how the greatly outnumbered Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was able to so badly defeat the Federal Army of the Potomac. I also couldn't help but note how any observer's negative comment about Gen. Hooker (see almost any other history of this battle) was purged from Mr. Sears' account yet any favorable comment from those same sources seemed to be included without reservation. In the end, yes, Gen. Howard's command was a disaster, and, yes, perhaps Gen. Sedgewick could have moved faster - although I have yet to figure out how Gen. Sedgewick with about 22,000 men was supposed to rescue Gen. Hooker's 80,000 - but the fact of the matter is that, even when subtracting all of Eleventh and Sixth Corps from the totals, Gen. Hooker's main army still greatly outnumbered Gen. Lee's at the point of attack, especially during the days when Gen. Lee denuded his lines in order to deal with Gen. Sedgewick. When faced with a similar situation a year later in nearly the same spot, Gen. Grant took a tactically defeated army and turned it into a strategic victory of surpassing importance. Why couldn't Gen. Hooker have done the same instead of tamely withdrawing across the river? I'm afraid that Mr. Sears leaves us to our own devices in trying to come to a decision in this matter. In conclusion, let me say that this is a fine book about the battle and I'm glad that I purchased it, but I would recommend Furgurson's "Chancellorsville: Souls of the Brave" as the better book. I would also recommend the Army's Field Guide to the Fredricksburg/Chancellorsville battles. Indispensable if you plan to walk over the area.
Rating:
Summary: Jackson bottles up Hooker, Sears ignores it
Review: I highly anticipated this work and was mostly pleased with it. However, to me the crucial part of the battle was when Hooker was advancing out of the Wilderness and Stonewall Jackson advanced to meet him. The open area east of the Wilderness was essential for Hooker's artillery, and Jackson knew this. Outnumbered as he was, Jackson's bold aggressiveness succeeded in convincing Hooker to halt his advance and fall back, even though at least one union corps commander (Meade) wanted to stay and fight for the position. Sears gives Jackson little credit for this move. I find it interesting that with Longstreet absent, Lee's army was much more mobile.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read...
Review: I highly recommend Mr Sears' account of the epic battle at Chancellorsville. Despite this being a most scholarly endeavor, I found the pacing and styling most reader-friendly. Of course, one often gets confused by the details of "this brigade" and "that division", and the constant name-dropping of commanders can get one dizzy at times. None of this however, subtracts from my enjoyment of this marvelous account. Although I am a Secesh-er, I applaud Mr Sears attempt to try to give "Fightin'" Joe Hooker his due. As often happens in "these" types of events, Sears does to some degree, maintain that Hooker was NOT the usual blue-clad buffoon that marred Yankee efforts throughout the early stages of the war. Perhap Hooker was indeed the victim of the "fog of war" disease that even bested Thomas J Jackson during the Seven Days. I'm now willing to look at Joe Hooker in a more tolerant light. On a more structural note, the hardcover is complete with many helpful maps, and the appendices contains order(s)of battle and casualties records. Caution - text is somewhat small print!
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