Lincoln and His Generals
Book Report: Lincoln and His GeneralsHarry T. Williams was born on May 19, 1909. When in college, he was encouraged by a professor to study history. This professors main interest was the Civil War era and had a great effect on Williams. He attended Platteville State Teachers College (later Wisconsin State University at Platteville) where he received a B.Ed in 1931. Williams continued education into graduate school was mainly due to the lack of work during the Great Depression. He went on to earn a Ph.M. in 1932, and Ph.D. in 1937, from the University of Wisconsin (Dawson 431). Lincoln and His Generals was the breakthrough book for Williams who had only written one book previously. This book provided him with many national and local acclaims. He book was on the best seller list, he received rave reviews in national publications, and scholarly awards where he was teaching at the time, L.S.U. He would go on to become a very respected writer during his forty-year career. He would also win the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for his book Huey Long (437). Williams main theme in Lincoln and His Generals is about the Civil War being the first modern war and Lincoln’s function in the position
Williams might be so fascinated with Lincoln that he might always take his side when analyzing questionable war tactics taken by some of the Generals, especially McClellan. Lincoln is painted as an intelligent maverick, a great statesman, and yet human enough to make mistakes and feel discouragement. Williams attributes this change largely to General Grant. His chief general McClellan thought little of him and yet Lincoln had few doubts about him early on. In spite of the unnecessary detail and verbosity that Williams sometimes uses, there is no doubt that this book is a remarkable insight into Lincoln’s persona. Williams leaves question as to his objectivity in his true assessment of certain Generals. Williams shows the desperate side of Lincoln. In Lincoln, one sees a willing amateur, one who had the ability to bring out the best in some men, and also learn from them (Williams 11). Lincoln’s selection process was sometimes based on political and personal grounds, and he was in the position of selecting from a pool of generals that had no experience leading a large army. Williams could have put less emphasis upon the detailed descriptions of battle plans and strategy. Bibliography Works CitedDawson, Joseph G. There is no doubt that reference is required to the history of the war to tell Lincoln’s story, but the author does tend to give more detail than necessary. The armies lacked organization and communication, and existing qualified generals were old and inept. Williams captures the pressures that are placed on Lincoln.
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Acceptance Essays
