eBooks - History - World - J. D. ROBB - Tried by War
Tried by War eBooks
by J. D. ROBB
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Windows Vista / XP / 2000, Mac OS X, Sony Reader Features
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Windows PC, Windows Mobile 5.0-6.0, Pocket PC 2003 Features
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Palm, Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, Windows PC, Mac, iPhone/iPod Touch Features
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Tried by War Summary
| James McPherson, a bestselling historian of the Civil War, illuminates how Lincoln worked with?and often against? his senior commanders to defeat the Confederacy and create the role of commander in chief as we know it. Though Abraham Lincoln arrived at the White House with no previous military experience (apart from a couple of months spent soldiering in 1832), he quickly established himself as the greatest commander in chief in American history. James McPherson illuminates this often misunderstood and profoundly influential aspect of Lincoln?s legacy. In essence, Lincoln invented the idea of commander in chief, as neither the Constitution nor existing legislation specified how the president ought to declare war or dictate strategy. In fact, by assuming the powers we associate with the role of commander in chief, Lincoln often overstepped the narrow band of rights granted the president. Good thing too, because his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union. For most of the conflict, he constantly had to goad his reluctant generals toward battle, and he oversaw strategy and planning for major engagements with the enemy. Lincoln was a self-taught military strategist (as he was a self-taught lawyer), which makes his adroit conduct of the war seem almost miraculous. To be sure, the Union?s campaigns often went awry, sometimes horribly so, but McPherson makes clear how the missteps arose from the all-too-common moments when Lincoln could neither threaten nor cajole his commanders to follow his orders. Because Lincoln?s war took place within our borders, the relationship between the front lines and the home front was especially close?and volatile. Here again, Lincoln faced enormous challenges in exemplary fashion. He was a masterly molder of public opinion, for instance, defining the war aims initially as preserving the Union and only later as ending slavery? when he sensed the public was at last ready to bear such a lofty bur... |
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eBooks - Titles - Authors - History - World - J. D. ROBB - Tried by War