Jack L Kunkel

Our Fathers at Shiloh, 2nd ed: A Step-by-Step Account of One of the Greatest Battles of the Civil War (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

* Over 30 Large Battlefield Maps
* Over 100 Photos and Illustrations
* Google Map Links to Actual Battlefield Locations
* Casualty Charts and Graphs
The Battle of Shiloh can be difficult to follow because, well, it was so darned messy! This was not a fight like Gettysburg or Antietam where the armies more or less knew what they were doing. With the exception of a few West Point graduates at the top of the command structure, almost everyone on the field at Shiloh was an amateur at the business of war - mostly local lawyers and politicians leading tens of thousands of their hometown boys into the gates of hell. What's amazing is the amount of damage these amateurs were able and willing to do to each other in just 18 hours or so of active fighting. For those who survived the inferno without running and without losing any important body parts,
Shiloh served as an excellent on-the-job training site for many future war leaders. But they certainly left a mess for those of us writers trying to explain the battle a century or so later. For possibly that reason, many books on Shiloh tend to discuss the politics and battles leading up to Shiloh in such depth that it's not until a hundred pages or so that anyone fires a shot at Shiloh.
In this book I've confined the political foreplay to the first chapter. After that we get down to the business of discussing the battle itself, in all of its confusion. I've dispensed with footnotes, since this work is not meant to be a scholarly treatise, though I can back up any part of the book with references if needed - almost all of them came from the books listed in the References section. I consider myself a "splainer" not a historian, though I love Civil War history. I admire those historians who came before me and did the in-depth research on the battle, but my object is to synthesize their findings and explain them in an interesting way that readers can understand. A pet peeve of mine with books about battles is that I'm often unsure which, if any, map relates to whatever is being discussed in the text. I hate thumbing through 20 pages to find the map that matches the text! Basically, when I'm reading about a battle, I want a map handy that shows me exactly where that location is on the battlefield, how it relates to the overall battlefield, which way the units were facing, which units were to the left or right, and what the participants looked like if any photos are available. Furthermore I'd like to be able to take those maps and walk the current battlefield, knowing what happened where and when. For that reason I've included maps in almost every chapter, all big enough to be visible from outer space.
Since there weren't many photos taken of the Shiloh field after the battle, I've settled for illustrations, which are generously sprinkled throughout the book. For those of you who read this book, my goal is that you'll come away with a better understanding, not only of what happened there, but a better understanding of what it was really like for the men and boys who fought in that terrible battle at Shiloh.
Jack Kunkel

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Jack L Kunkel
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. Oktober 2024
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9798227424129
• Artikelnr.: 72387379

Autorenporträt

I'm the author of five books on the Civil War battles, three of them on the battle of Gettysburg, one on Shiloh and one on Antietam. I try not to simply write "history books;" rather I tell stories true ones that are hopefully entertaining as well as informing, while sticking absolutely true to the facts to the best of my knowledge.

Although I love military history, I consider myself more of a presenter than a historian, meaning that, rather than unearthing new facts, I concentrate more on presenting the facts, while taking full advantage of modern technology when possible. For example, in studying battles, it's always frustrated me to encounter thick books loaded with text, but which contain only a few obscure maps. In contrast, most of my books are loaded with photos, maps, and illustrations, often with links to on-line Google maps and/or YouTube battlefield videos.

Although Americans were once justifiably proud of the fact that the nation was able to knit itself back together after such a terrible civil war, today we once again live in divisive times unseen since that war, and writers and teachers are expected to choose sides and deliver politically-correct homilies, depending on which way the political winds are blowing at the moment. I don't do that. My only agenda is the truth. As far as I'm concerned, the Civil War participants on both sides were Americans, products of their time and environment, and quite prepared to die for what they believed in. And I honor all of them equally.

And so, as an author, I just tell what happened and let readers sort out the heroes and villains to suit themselves.

As always, I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I did writing them!

Jack Kunkel