Customer Reviews:
AuthorZone.Com Book Review.......2003-08-01
Excellent book. Well written, easily read, thought provoking. Is long, but not cumbersome.
I first read 'About Face' written by Col. David Hackworth during the late 1980s. I found it extremely valuable in helping me...a woman with little knowledge of anything military, understand better my children's dad, a land based Viet Nam combat vet and the problems he had to deal with before his death.
As the wife of yet a second Viet Nam combat vet, special forces, I suggest this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of the debt of gratitude and respect we citizens owe those willing to serve in The United States Military.
Reviewed by: molly martin
should be required reading for all seving military leaders.......1999-07-15
I first came to hear of ABOUT FACE from a friend and fellow NCO in Korea. He said I might think it was good, Was that an understatement. I read About Face in one fourteen hour plane ride back to Korea. I've read it three more times so far and recommend it to all my friends deserving the title Non-Commisioned Officer. I truly believe that all military leaders should read this and take from it; Hack's wisdom and experiance dealing with the military, Integrity and soldiering.
A Great Man, A Great Book, A Great Read.......1997-08-07
I bought this book when I was about 11 years old and a big fan of "war stories". I am now approaching twenty and have read this book at least once a year since first purchasing it, to the extent that it is now in three parts and the photographs have fallen out. This book is an intense, gripping, readable but most of all honest and believable account of one of America's greatest warriors and his experiences...from the forested slopes of Trieste in 1946 to being chased around Washington DC by Army Intell goons in 1971, this book, while entertaining, will also teach you everything you need to know about duty, honour,bravery and honest patriotism, qualities that come hard to find in the era of Iran-Contra, Tailhook, Whitewater and the like...
This book will make you laugh, cry and think.
Please, read it.
A grunts-eye-view look at the career of Col. Hackworth........1997-07-25
This is the tale of America's most decorated living hero. From his humble beginnings to his glorious career in the U. S. Army. A man destined to be one of the elite movers and shakers in the military. He became disillusioned with America's war effort in Vietnam and the "ticket-punching" pursuits of the manager-officers. He gave up his career and moved into self-imposed exile. This story is a must read for those interested in the development of the U. S. Army since WWII. It's a real wake-up call
Customer Reviews:
A must read for anyone in the miitary.......2007-02-18
One of the best books on the life of a true american warrior.
One of my favorite books period.......2007-02-16
This is one of those books I keep reading, time and again. The writing style is engrossing and addictive and you will find yourself drawn into his life, clearly drawn along a detailed backdrop of the cold war.
I first picked this book up as a young US soldier serving in Germany and it opened my eyes up to a lot of the good and bad in the Army. I completely recommend it to any soldier of any rank to read and learn from Hack's mistakes and glories. I later read it again as a college student studying history and again (and again and again) as a teacher.
In my opinion, this is the best of his books and it goes beyond "just" a war memoire. The pain, hurt, love, betrayal and so many other feelings come out in the book and the passion is what makes it addictive. The attention to detail and the "big picture" is clear as well.
The Shock of Spin Free Honesty .......2006-11-15
Thankfully Hackworth left us with this story of his life, primarily in the US Military. We struggle to accept the dichotomy of his courage and effectiveness, presented without spin. It is the absence of spin that makes us most uncomfortable in that we still cling to the belief that the process of killing in war can be made civilized. Hack of course compounds this with his nocturnal adventures. Others are offended by his willingness to offend so much of what senior military officers hold dear.
We are fortunate to have these mavericks in the military - Hackworth, Boyd, Moore and so many others who compromised their careers to do the right thing for their services and their country. They are not the only answer but a much needed voice in a democracy.
If you read only one book this year make it, About Face........2006-05-07
I read About Face several years ago now. It is a long read and you will find yourself emursed in the life of this man we come to know as Hack. I emailed this man several times and he always responded back. He has sinced died and America has lost a son. This book is the best read ever if you have a patriotic bone in you don't miss it.
RJS
As a soldier, Hack is my hero.......2005-12-11
Hack told it like it is. We had a batallion commander like him a couple of years ago. If you read the Book "Heavy Metal" Then you would know who it is. In this book hack always had the soldiers by his side. Something officers in todays army dont have. He always knew how to work the system for the benefit of his men. Something today few officers or nco's are willing to do. As a soldier this is my leadership handbook. If civilians want to know how the army works today read this book. Eventhough this book is based on the 50', 60' and 70's I still find officers and nco's today doing what they did 30 to 40 years ago. Once you read this book your outlook on the Army will change. RIP Hack!
Product Description
NOT A CD! A 2-AUDIOTAPE CASSETTE ABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK OF THE MEMOIRS OF COLONEL DAVID H. HACKWORTH. 1990 SIMON & SCHUSTER AUDIOWORKS #68450-7. DOLBY SYSTEM.
Book Description
WINNER OF THE 1998 PETER SEABORG AWARD
The first in the trilogy, this reexamination of Confederate war aims analyzes the military policy and strategy adopted by Lee. Harsh argues that these policies helped the Confederacy to survive longer than expected and were the policies best designed to win Southern independence.
Customer Reviews:
Southern Strategy just didn't happen.......2007-08-19
This is the second book Joseph Harsh wrote on the Antietam Campaign and Southern strategy in 1861 -1862. Again, the reader's knowledge of the Civil War is challenged by series logical well-supported ideas. This book sets the stage for "Taken at the Flood" by establishing the strategy and events that resulted in the Antietam Campaign. This book can be read as a stand-alone history or with "Taken at the Flood". If read together, this is best read first even considering the review of Southern strategy at the start of the second book.
Beginning with an overview of CSA war aims, we are walked through the first months of the war learning how events shape strategy. When Lee assumes command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the author details how the victories in the summer of 1862 change strategy and lead to the invasion of Maryland in September. This is the heart of the book, showing Lee simultaneously both directing and being trapped by events. Once again, we are placed in real-time seeing events not as history but as happening now. This allows us to understand what they knew and why the acted as they did. Often, they had the wrong, incomplete or misleading information but something had to be done.
Lee and Davis Making Southern Strategy.......2003-06-11
Joseph Harsh, the author, analyzes Confederate war strategy from Fort Sumter through the Battle of Second Manassas stating that it was not true that the all the South wanted was "to be left alone." Declaring independence did not guarantee independence, and the author states the South thus "pursued three closely related but distinct war aims: independence, territorial integrity and the union of all the slave states."
The text notes that statistically the South could not win. To overcome the odds, the Confederacy needed to conserve its resources while inflicting unacceptable casualties on the North. The text explains the doctrines of the Swiss military theorist Jomini, the probable basis for Jefferson Davis's doctrine of the "offensive-defense." Davis's doctrine provided a firm strategic framework within which Confederate generals in the field could work. By October 1861, pursuing the offensive-defense considerable progress toward achieving Confederate war aims was made; followed next by reversals of Southern fortunes resulting in part from the failure to continue the policies/strategies that yielded early successes.
On June 1, 1862 Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, when Joseph Johnson was wounded. The offensive-defensive policy was already in practice and was not initiated by Lee as some contend. By "late May 1862, the South had nearly lost the war. Lee knew that Jefferson Davis expected him to go on the offensive to save Richmond and to reclaim Virginia. Harsh also notes "Lee chose the offensive because he wanted to win the war, and he thought it offered the only chance. He believed the defensive was the sure path to defeat." His first response was the Seven Days Battle, whose strategy/execution contained errors, but nevertheless relieved the pressure on Richmond.
The author gives an excellent account of the strategic/tactical problems during the Seven Days Campaign and the events leading to the Battle of Second Manassas. Richmond was a major railroad center, banking center, manufacturing center, milling center and its lost would have been serious. It was important that the city is not captured and that Virginia is reclaimed. After the Seven Days Campaign Lee lost the initiative and was in a strategic stalemate that didn't end until Union General McClellan's Army of the Potomac was ordered back to Washington thereby ending the threat to Richmond.
The text gives an excellent account of the development of Lee's field strategies before and throughout the Battle of Second Manassas. The author notes as the battle neared its climax "Lee desperately wanted to finish the task at hand by destroying the army of.... Pope." However a frontal assault was the only option; and Lee couldn't afford the losses a frontal assault would incur. Nonetheless the author notes following the Second Manassas "Through chance, risk and much bloodshed, he and the Army of Northern Virginia were cobbling together the series of rapid victories that might lead to Northern demoralization and Confederate independence." The text ends with the Battle of Second Manassas and closes with six appendixes that discuss strategy questions.
While this an excellent work, my major criticism is an almost total lack of suitable maps. I read the chapters on the Battle of Second Manassas with a copy of Hennessy's book on Second Manassas at hand for its maps. While much can be gained from this book without prior study of the first eighteen months of the Civil War, prior reading of history about the period covered by this book will greatly aid the reader in comprehending Harsh's text.
Excellent Book but requires some prior knowledge.......2003-01-06
I've had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Harsh for several years after taking a class on the Civil War with him at George Mason University.
This book came out of the seperation into three books of a manuscript he wrote on Gen. Lee and the campaign just prior to the Maryland campaign and then the Maryland campaign itself. This book is immensely readable and quite detailed. Dr. Harsh is quite blunt when there is a lack of clear evidence on a subject and the reasons for his judgment are well reasoned and sound. My opinion of Confederate strategy and the role of Jefferson Davis in the formation of that strategy changed a great deal after reading Confederate Tide Rising. While he is not the subject of this book, my view of Gen. Jackson also changed as the result of reading this book. Due to his performance in many of the battles and lead up to the battles discussed in this book, it's obvious to me that Jackson has been overrated by historians and could have been much more criticized by Gen. Lee than he was. That he did not do so postwar and only midly criticized Jackson in the action discussed in this book says a lot about Gen. Lee the man.
There are only a few drawbacks to this book. The first is that Dr. Harsh sometimes I think assumes knowledge of minor engagements and also political developments which were important but not directly germaine to his discussion that the reader may not possess. He would have been better served to not just mention these engagements and political developments and leave the reader wondering but to further discuss these developments and their importance, such as the Trent affair which he mentions twice before discussing what it was.
My second gripe with this book has been noted by a previous reviewer. There is a woeful lack of maps, which I think is simply unforgivable in any military history book. As Dr. Harsh clearly demonstrates, terrain and locations are particularly important in civil war battles and helped determine the tactics and strategy employed by Gen. Lee, Gen. McClellan and Gen. Pope. I have a working knowledge of some of the places discussed in the book because I live near many of them, however many readers in other parts of the country who do not have an extensive knowledge of the Civil War yet, may not. The lack of maps would really hamper their understanding of Dr. Harsh's points.
However, one thing that helps this book despite all that is Dr. Harsh's discussion of several terms and their uses in books on the the Civil War as well as how the Civil War generals themselves would have understood those terms such as strategy and tactics. This sort of a discussion is absent in most works on the war and I believe really hampers the understanding of many who look to gain knowledge on the war.
Overall, this book is essential for any Civil War bookshelf and should be accompanied by Dr. Harsh's other two books, Taken at the Flood and Sounding the Shallows.
Interesting Book.......2001-06-19
An overview of the war to the summer of 62. The ideas presented are well grounded and provoke real thought. Not a book that will sit well with many readers but a worthwhile addition to any Civil War Library. Read this and than read "Taken at the Flood".
In Consideration of Lee and Davis.......2000-09-23
I had the pleasure of taking Dr. Harsh's Civil War History course at George Mason University. Much of his basis for lectures for that course was the same material used to write this book and its sequel - Taken at the Flood. Dr. Harsh is nothing if not a thorough researcher - with the help of his industrious graduate students of course, serving their terms of indenture in the tombs of the National Archives and the Center of Military History and other suitable manuscript repositories. He has truly wiped the slate clean and started from the point of "What did they know and when did they know it?" He often refers to Lincoln's standard wire to his generals in the field "How does it look now?" He applies that method to analyzing Civil War principals - how did the situation present itself, what information was known or guessed at and when and how did they react to it? You may not agree with all of his conclusions - I certainly do not agree with all of the high praise that he heaps on Jefferson Davis and George McClellan. However, you will have to take his statements under serious consideration, since they are based on solid, academic application of the historical method. He succeeds in stimulating the student to think. He has a special interest in historiography and he makes every effort to avoid preconceptions which are not supported by available facts. This book is certainly a key contribution to understanding the first year of the war from the Confederate strategic perspective. His Taken at the Flood will rapidly become the standard for future studies of the Maryland Campaign of '62. The goods news is that Dr. Harsh will next turn his attention to the Federal side and we will be offered his insight on Lincoln, McClellan et al.
Average customer rating:
- A noteworthy attempt to unmask the Marble Man
- Not Your Usual Book on the Southern Icon
- Disappointing
- Very overdone
- New insight into Lee's character
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The Making of Robert E. Lee
Michael Fellman
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Amazon.com
Civil War scholar Michael Fellman investigates the psychology and beliefs of that conflict's most admired general in an intriguing intellectual biography. From his days as a cadet at West Point, Robert E. Lee (1807-70) struck his companions and teachers as "a full-blown aristocratic beau ideal ... tall, stunningly handsome, bright, manly, commanding." His brilliant leadership of the Confederate army against daunting odds only increased Southerners' reverence, which came to be shared by many white Northerners after the partisan passions of the war had faded. Fellman probes behind the façade of the "Marble Man" to discover the conflicts and uncertainties that seethed there. Son of an American Revolutionary legend who ended his life in bankruptcy and disgrace, Lee felt that he must redeem his family name and become the perfect Southern gentleman; yet, he struggled to reconcile his ideals of Christian virtue, self-denial, humility, duty, and honor with his desire for fame and success. "In a very real sense," Fellman writes, "the Civil War rescued Robert E. Lee from marginality and obscurity. In it, he learned to focus his values, his talent, and his deepest feelings on the terrible martial problems at hand." Exploring those values, Fellman unsparingly reveals their roots in racism, repression, and hypocrisy; yet, he acknowledges and admires (with reservations) Lee's sincere adherence to them. "He walked not above but within all the contradictions of a specific society," Fellman writes. "This makes him far more interesting than some boring marble representation of the supposedly unitary and perfect saint." Some ardent worshippers of "Saint Robert" might disagree, but most students of American history will find this a stimulating reassessment. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
With rigorous research and unprecedented insight into Robert E. Lee's personal and public lives, Michael Fellman here uncovers the intelligent, ambitious, and often troubled man behind the legend, exploring his life within the social, cultural, and political context of the nineteenth-century American South.
Customer Reviews:
A noteworthy attempt to unmask the Marble Man.......2007-05-14
Hopefully some of those interested in a character study of Robert E. Lee will not be dissuaded by the negative reviews this book seems to have attacted. This is not really a conventional biography, but rather an attempt to unravel something of the man who resided behind a stoic mask. Yes, there are a few instances where the author seems to overreach -- but they do not negate the value of the work as a whole. Overall, the picture of Lee that emerges is thoughtful and balanced.
Not Your Usual Book on the Southern Icon.......2006-01-14
I must confess before proceeding that I am a southerner born and raised and have since my early youth been enamoured with the southern icon Robert E. Lee. It is to this confession that I will futher confess that perhaps this clouded my opinion of this book a bit.
In my opinion Fellman goes too far to try to break the myth that is Robert E. Lee and in this effort he becomes transparent and not objective. In reading this book I found myself scoffing numerous times, raising a perplxed eyebrow and even speaking out loud saying "Oh, come on now". Several of Mr. Fellman's conclusions and speculations simply were not borne out of the text or letter(s) he develops his view from (I actually researched a few of the referenced letters for the full context and still found myself disagreeing strongly with Mr. Fellman's reading of them and wondering how any sensible person could arrive at his conclusions).
I was originally sorry that I had purchased the book, but after concluding it and in reflection, am actually glad that I read the book...for at least I see how historical revisionist go about trying to rewrite public opion on favorable historical figures.
As for a much more enjoyable read in which Lee comes alive, you would be better severed with Douglas Southhall Freeman's "Lee"...even if (as Fellman contends) he is biased to paint a positive portrait of Lee.
Disappointing.......2005-08-16
This is a very disappointing biography. I can't tell whether it is disappointing because of the way Fellman wrote or because of who Lee really was, but I suspect that Fellman did a poor job in bringing Lee to life.
His chapters are very prosaic and simple, attempting to boil Lee down into different titles. "Audacity", "Fatherhood", "Patrimony Recaptured" and so on. He spends so much time trying to recapture Lee through his letters that he fails to see that they don't add anything worth noting to Lee. Even when you get to "Gettysburg" Fellman doesn't talk about the battle, doesn't try to recreate a picture and show how Lee fought. Instead he shows Lee talking after the battle and claiming responsibility, then telling Davis what went wrong and so on. We hear nothing of the battle itself!
I must assume, then, that Fellman is an amateur author. But then you read that he has written five previous books before and is a professor of history! Astonishing. I would not recommend this book to anyone, in fact I wouldn't recommend this author at all.
Very overdone.......2005-01-11
In his effort to bring Lee to earth Fellman overreached to the point of intellectual dishonesty--see the previous comment about his anger. Here's my recommendation to anybody who wants to see this in action--read any two good balanced biographies of Lee--Thomas comes to mind, for example. Then read this book and you'll be easily able to see the extent to which evidence can be twisted and distorted to create a fantastic picture.
What's remarkable, though, is Fellman attempts to do this in broad daylight, insulting the intelligence of the reader.
I'll give you some examples so you can see for yourself. On page 61 Fellman states of Lee on Indian duty that "often he welcomed the destruction of the savages." To justify this he uses this extract from a letter to his wife: "I hear that my young Lts have been active in their scouts during my absence. They have each intercepted marauding parties of Indians, chastised them severely. Upwards of a dozen were killed, more wounded, all their horses, animals, camp equipage captured. It is a distressing state of things that requires the the applications of such harsh treatments, but i is the only corrective they understand and the only way they can be kept within their limits."
This, to me, says he 'regrets the necessity,' not welcomes the destruction--but not to Fellman.
Here's another--page 66, Lee is sending female negro servants (Fellman calls them 'house slaves') to a relative but cautions "I can not recommend them for their honesty." Fellman characterizes this with "This sort of snide commentary about inherent slave dishonesty was the language with which Lee expressed his racism." So Lee's comment about three particular people he knew becomes a generic statement about inherent slave dishonesty, and somehow this is an expression of Lee's 'racism' instead of a simple assessment of these individuals. Fellman somehow, through a mechanism he neglects to mention, has been able to discern that Lee's comment was untrue and a product of his racism, not his observation.
Page after page after page with these overwrought generalizations, many of which, like the above, simply slap you in the face with their presumptiousness. Fellman produces a quote, and right before your eyes tells you it means something entirely different from what it obviously says.
Remarkable.
What's more remarkable is he closes the book by telling you why he's doing this. It's not because previous assessments are wrong, he's working at a higher plane than mere fact: "To accept Saint Robert would be to accept the code of the white south at face value, to deny the reality of terrible historical questions by embracing the willful self-blinding of hero worship."
So there it is--to accept Robert E. Lee as a great man--a great southern man--lends credence to 'the code of the white south,' therefore, Robert E. Lee is not a great man. And how an assessment of Lee's character can possibly deny--or affirm--'the reality of terrible historical questions' is beyond me. Besides, he tells us, "This makes him far more interesting than some boring marble representation of the supposedly unitary and perfect man."
Well, he's right there, he's certainly concocted an 'interesting' Robert E. Lee. Maybe in his next book he'll concoct an accurate one.
New insight into Lee's character.......2003-07-08
Some years ago Marble Man was published, explaining how post-war Confederates turned Lee into the symbol of fallen Southern chivalry. However, the first part of the book, a psychobiography of Lee, was extremely weak, because the author was unacquainted with 19th century norms of language and conscience.
Fellman has made a systematic study of ALL of Lee's private correspondence throughout his life: the letters written to his wife and children, to the young ladies he enjoyed flirting with, and his military/political correspondence.An entirely new figure emerges, free of the accretions of Douglas Freeman.
Far from being reluctant to leave the US Army in 1861, he embraces the Confederate cause. A man of his time and place, he carries the racism implicit in the Southern viewpoint. Most interestingly, his post-war career at Washington College shows him completely aware of his role as a political actor who represents the fallen cause. Must reading for any serious student of the Civil War.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Engineering Economist, published by Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE) on March 22, 1994. The length of the article is 7745 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the author: A general model for decision evaluation is presented which consists of engineering, economic, and decision evaluation submodels. The methodology utilizes interval mathematics, which offers a new approach to modeling parameter uncertainty and performing sensitivity analysis in economic studies. The decision evaluation model transforms results from the engineering and economic models into indices that are used for performing pairwise comparisons between alternative designs. A distribution case study which considers eight alternative designs is presented. Sample results are presented in terms of the proposed decision evaluation vector and display.
Citation Details
Title: The application of interval analysis to economic decision evaluation of electric energy systems.
Author: Hesham E. Shaalan
Publication:
Engineering Economist (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1994
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
Volume: v39
Issue: n3
Page: p209(25)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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