Sherman: Lessons in Leadership(Great Generals)

Sherman is not only one of the most important generals in the American Civil War, but also one of the most famous commanders in the military annals of the western world. He has become an almost mythical character in popular memory, the embodiment of grim-visaged, implacable war. Legend has him burning a sixty-mile-wide swath of desolation across the South, and southerners still confidently assert that their ancestors were burned out by Sherman and his vandal hordes. Sherman famously said, "War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it," and yet, even at his most destructive, he maintained strict limits on the degree of damage his soldiers could inflict. Sherman's wartime career makes a fascinating study of the degree to which the severity of war can be channeled, directed, and limited - especially as it relates to the current war in Iraq.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Introduction The Education of a Soldier, 1820-1845 'A Dead Cock in the Pit,' 1846-1861 Failure, 1861-1862 Shiloh to Young's Point, 1862-1863 The Vicksburg Campaign, 1863 From Memphis to Meridian, 1863-1864 The Atlanta Campaign, 1864 The March to the Sea, 1864 The Carolinas Campaign, 1865 Post-War Career, 1865-1891 Notes Index

About the Author :
STEVEN E. WOODWORTH is a professor of History at Texas Christian University, USA, and an acknowledged expert on the Civil War. He has written a number of well-received books on the topic, including Nothing But Victory. He lives in Fort Worth, TX.

Review :
'A fast-paced look at the military career of Grant's most trusted, effective subordinate, the latest from the publisher's handy Great Generals Series.'- Kirkus Reviews 'An excellent brief life of a major and controversial figure.'- Booklist 'With the clarity and lucidity of style that has become his hallmark, Steven Woodworth has given us a splendid brief biography of William T. Sherman. Concise without sacrificing important details, this book analyzes the qualities of personality and leadership that made Sherman a great general and an essential partner with Ulysses S. Grant to win the Civil War.'- James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom and Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief 'Military historian Steven E. Woodworth has cracked the code of one of the Civil War's best-known, complex, and most controversial commanders - William Tecumseh Sherman. A larger-than-life figure of decided opinions, prejudices and passions, Sherman was also a sharp strategic thinker with the character and wherewithal to put his thoughts into action. That he changed the course of the Civil War there is no doubt, neither is there any question that Woodworth has fully captured the man with concision, precision, and style.'- Noah Andre Trudeau, author of Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea and Gettsyburg: A Testing of Courage 'It has long been evident that Steve Woodworth has a mastery of Civil War history that allows him to write on any aspect of it with vast knowledge, understanding, perception, accuracy, and dramatic flair. He has brought all of that skill into play again in this gem of a military biography. To read it is to cut through the myth and see the real William T. Sherman.'- John C. Waugh, author of The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox - Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and Their Brothers