Book Description
The Civil War was America’s trial by fire; its battles forged the nation we know today. We’re still fascinated with it – the national reckoning with slavery, the legendary generals and leaders, the epic and bloody clashes of armies, the impact on the daily lives of ordinary people. We visit its battlefields – mostly idyllic patches of countryside near small towns and creeks – where more Americans died in combat than in all other wars combined, except for World War Two. And we tell its stories – of last charges, brother fighting brother, imprisonment and emancipation, and tragedy and rebirth. It is our country’s epic; the story of how we became who we are, and what price we paid.
The Civil War For Dummies is your complete introduction to this seminal conflict. Eschewing tedious historical pondering and military micro-analysis, this fun and information-rich guide gives an accurate overview of the event, from the war’s causes through the fighting to the aftermath. Inside you’ll discover:
- 1850-1860: what led to war
- First Bull Run: illusions lost
- Antietam: the bloodiest day
- The Emancipation Proclamation
- Heroes and goats of each major battle
- Jackson’s Valley Campaign
- Sherman’s March to the Sea
- Surrender at Appomattox
- And much more
Full of sidebars and illustrations, The Civil War For Dummies brings history to life with personalities, factoids, battle reports, strategic maps, and “what ifs.” In addition to the military and political history, you’ll also find out about:
- The African American experience in the war
- Women and the Civil War
- Native Americans and the war
- The life of the common soldier
- Banking and finance systems and the war
- “Firsts” that make the Civil War history’s first modern war
- Civil War food
- Civil War tourism: the best battlefields to visit, and how to get the most out of your trip
Written in an accessible style so you can start reading at any point in the story, The Civil War For Dummies makes a great cornerstone for learning about this violent and compelling chapter of American history.
Customer Reviews:
Read This and Remain a Dummy?.......2007-02-03
In the case of at least one important Civil War commander,the author, regardless of his impressive credentials, makes some astonishingly erroneous mistakes of both fact and interpretation.
Regarding Confederate General John Bell Hood, among other glaring errors, Dickson writes that after the disastrous 1864 Tennessee Campaign and retreat from Nashville, only 5,000 Confederate troops remained in the shattered Army of Tennessee. Records confirm that the Army of Tennessee numbered 21,700 (18,682 effective infantry and approximately 3,000 cavalry of Forrest's command) in Tupelo, Mississippi in Jan. 1865 after the retreat. These forces were later dispersed among various locations, with 5,000 infantry sent to North Carolina. The author suggests to the reader that these 5,000 soldiers were all that remained after the defeat at Nashville.
Also, the author, while harshly criticizing Gen. Hood at every opportunity, states unambiguously that Hood single-handedly ruined the Confederate attack at Cassville, Georgia in June 1864 by incorrectly positioning his corps to face a nonexistent Union threat. This is completely false. Research by respected Civil War scholars such as Richard McMurry and Dr. Stephen Davis confirm Gen. Hood's assertion that a Union force of approximately 1,500 cavalry approached Hood's Corps from the right flank at the commencement of Army of Tennessee commander Joe Johnston's planned Cassville attack, and Hood wisely repositioned his forces to face the threat. As Dr. Davis wrote in his book "Atlanta Will Fall", for Hood to have ignored an approaching Union force of unknown size would have been "foolish in the extreme."
I realize that The Civil War for Dummies is not supposed to be an in-depth scholastic and tactical study of the Civil War, but the book should at least be factually accurate and any commentary ought to be reasonable.
Unfortunately, regarding Gen. John Bell Hood, Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, and the 1864 Tennessee Campaign, the book's content seems to be little more than a "Cliff's Notes" style condensed version of author Wiley Sword's widely discredited book on Hood and his Tennessee Campaign, "Embrace an Angry Wind: The Confederacy's Last Hurrah"
As related to the subject of Gen. Hood, readers of "Civil War for Dummies" will probably remain so.
Just the Facts.......2007-01-09
I was looking for a good book to refresh my memory of the Civil War. This book gave me an unbiased account from beginning to end. It hits the important points of the war without weighing you down with tons of details. This is a great book for the casual historian, but not necessarily the hard core Civil War junkie.
NEO-CONFEDERATE BIAS.......2006-08-07
The author leans heavily towards the racist White South and misrepresents Union personalities. Southerners are "brave heroes" while Union men are "one-time store clerks and errand boys". It's hard to believe that the author is a loyal American.
not a good study guide.......2006-06-28
I bought this book to study for the DANTES test on Civil war and reconstruction. It was of minimal help. Its a great book if what you are interested in is battle plans, tactics, and a pretty good analysis of each and every battle. The DANTES exam just wanted to know who fought what battle and where, and had questions on Copperheads, fireaters, KKK,and the Lincoln and Johnson administrations that are only glanced it in this book. This is a book about the Civil WAR. To review for the DANTES test find a book about the Civil War and the Civil War ERA.
Since this is the first book I've ever read that was exclusively about the Civil War, I wasn't too sure if 90% of the Southern Generals really were war geniuses and 90% of the Union Generals were compelete idiots, which is how it seems in this author's analysis. The South received more complimentary language than the North. I felt that the author was slightly biassed toward the South.
Excellent Synopsis of a Complicated Subject.......2006-03-24
Dr. Dickson does an excellent job of compressing four years of a nation-wide conflict into less than 400 pages, including the major issues leading up to the war. I would recommend this book highly for students in both high school and college who want to know more about the Civil War, but do not have time to enjoy all the classic histories on the subject.
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Heroes and battles of the war 1861-65
Joel Tyler Headley
Manufacturer: A.L. Bancroft
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0008C3NHW |
Book Description
U.S. Military History For Dummies examines significant battles, tactics, strategies, weapons, technology, and leadership on land, sea, and air since the French-Indian War in 1755, where George Washington was first battle-tested, to the present day war in Iraq. The book uniquely focuses on how developments in each of these areas influenced how wars were fought and how leadership and strategies evolved. Wars covered include the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and the War in Iraq as well as other military operations around the globe.
Book Description
An original 1894 manuscript is brought back to life in Trident's reproduction of this Civil War treasure. Page after page of maps, photos, and illustrations, along with vivid text, will make Campfire and Battlefield a favorite among Civil War buffs. From the preliminary events of the war to the women who contributed to the cause, a complete history of the war is here including statements from Generals, their wives, and the enlisted men who fought for what they believed.
Customer Reviews:
I have the original...........2000-04-02
I have the original 1894 version of this book and have enjoyed it for many years. The perspective of battles is fresh in comparison to the history books of today.There is so much more in this book, the engravings and pictures are wonderful. I would highly recommend even a copy.
Stunning clarity, written with clear memory of the war.......1999-08-06
This review comes from a reading of the original 1894 edition. Filled with many obscure and forgotten details, this book is a treasure for Civil War historians. Songs, complete with full lyrics, as well as specific orders of battle give this reading a timely presence. Written in the traditional language of the era, the events have a kind of realism that brings you face to face with history. Originally this volume was sold by subscription only @ N.Y. BY KNIGHT AND BROWN. After having this book in my possession for many years it is very exciting to see that it has been reprinted at long last.
Campfire and Battlefield.......1999-05-19
The Civil War was the most important conflict the U.S. has ever been involved in, bar none. The military, ethical, and governmental consequences have been enormous. Campfire & Battlefield gives us a unique perspective of this great event.
Amazon.com
Historians and philosophers of history have long debated whether the human story is one of constant improvement and progress, or whether history is instead a wheel that leads us again and again to the same place--the same choices, the same errors. To judge by this slender volume, David Fromkin is an unabashed partisan of the first school. In his view, the logic of history leads to "the only civilization still surviving, the scientific one of the modern world," the civilization of capitalism and technology. That view is, of course, arguable, but Fromkin defends it ably and intelligently. General readers will be more interested in Fromkin's overview of world history, a fast-forward tour of the evolution of civilization from a simple congeries of agriculturalists, as in Sumer, to a collectivity of peoples interested in such ideals as morality and peacemaking. Fromkin's whirlwind approach is sometimes vexing--he treats, for instance, the fall of Rome in just a few sentences, ignoring generations of scholarly inquiry on the multiple causes of that decline--but it nonetheless yields a spirited synthesis of past events and patterns. Fromkin closes by remarking that although the future may promise "a nightmare of nationalist, religious, and language-group wars," the worldwide adoption of an American-style federalism that transcends such distinctions is a more attractive possibility. "For all its faults," he writes, "the American way may prove to be the only viable one to deal with the consequences of the modernizing revolution. If so, the world is in luck, for continuing American leadership, like it or not, seems to be what the world has got." --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
"Ambitious.... The truth is that Fromkin's outline is persuasively thought out and presented."--The Washington Post Book World
As the human race approaches the 21st century, questions of our past trouble us as much as those that concern our future. How did we get here? Where--and how--did Homo sapiens originate? How did we, precariously bipedal, come to dominate the animal kingdom, direct the flow of the Euphrates, fly a rocket to the moon?
David Fromkin, author of
A Peace to End All Peace and finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critic Circle Award, provides an arrestingly cogent answer in
The Way of the World. With insight and sound scholarship, he reveals how human culture has evolved according to the principles of self-determination--from the footsteps of the first hominids 3.5 million years ago to the efforts of contemporary democracies' to establish a global, lasting peace. Here is a world history wherein early forms of Christianity give way to rationalism, the tyranny of kings crumbles to the merits of representative government, and modern science presents us with the master key to the future. Refreshingly positive, David Fromkin reminds us of the astounding record of human achievement, and the potential in each of us to improve the way of our world.
"Mr. Fromkin recounts 'the greatest story ever told' exceedingly well, aided by a deep knowledge and an elegant prose style."--The Wall Street Journal
"
The Way of the World is worldly, civilized, genial."--The Boston Globe
Customer Reviews:
A PERFECT Framework for Viewing History and Prehistory.......2007-05-12
This is a tremendous conceptual viewpoint on prehistory and history. It takes the complicated listings of historical facts and developes a concise overview that is both readible and easy to comprehend.
Impressed.......2005-09-22
This item came in excellent condition and was delivered much sooner than expected. I was very pleased.
The March of Progress?.......2004-07-27
David Fromkin goes out in search of a useable past. Nor would he, I think, shy away from that description. He starts 'The Way of the World' with a description of a shaman "clad in bear skin" and a tale in front of the fire, telling the tribes people where they have come from and where they are heading. Fromkin's avowed purpose is to do the same for a Modern audience (p.3)
Fromkin was nominated for a Pulitzer for 'A Peace to End All Peace', the story of bravery and folly at the birth of the modern Middle East. In it, he demonstrated considerable writing skills, original thought, and enormous amount of research.
Only the first of these qualities is also apparent in 'The Way of the World'. The prose is even better this time around - but unfortunately, the other elements that made 'A Peace to End All Peace' into a near classic are missing.
'The Way of All World' seems to be based on fairly well known secondary sources. That's not necessary a bad thing, but you can feel that Fromkin is not as conversant about, say, Vasco da Gama's voyages, as he was about British Middle East policies in the 1920s.
Lack of originality in research can also be made up for in original thinking, but although Fromkin's analysis is insightful and clever it is hardly unique.
The first two parts of the book are a short history of mankind, the first chapter is about the biological evolution of homo sapiens (a well written account, drawing on such popular science books as Richard Dawkins's River Out of Eden), and the second one about pre history. Then we get two chapters on ancient civilizations, before Fromkin decides to narrow his scope and look at Western History, from the Roman Empire to the modern day.
Fromkin's is a not a very original account; although it is a break with some traditional views of European history (the Reformation is mentioned in all of four pages), it is consistent with the themes of recent books about the rise of the West, such as David Landes's 'The Wealth and Poverty of Nations'. Like Landes, Fromkin sees a triumph of the West ("the history of the modern world can be seen as the tale of how, out of the many civilizations that flourished in the year 1000, all but one succumbed in the course of the next thousand years" p. 87) caused by a 'scientific. technological and industrial revolution' (ibid). Unlike Landes, Fromkin all but ignores the importance of politics and capitalism (mentioned only 3 times in the index) to rise of European Civilization.
The third part of the book, in which Fromkin attempts to draw conclusions about the Future leaves much to be desired. Unlike Alexis do Tocqueville, whom Fromkin lionizes, Fromkin is too cautious to make predictions. He says that, at least in the beginning of the twenty first century, America will still be the most powerful country, but that is near obvious. Other predictions are equally self evident, even handed, and safe "... a central question in the politics of the twenty first century throughout the world will be the tension between holding together and pulling apart: between the centripetal pull of a modern global economy that requires regional and planetary organization, and the centrifugal push of atavistic tribalism" (p. 188).
Some six years on, it is clear that this book was published during the Clinton years. Much in the last few chapters is a hymn to American values, in particular democracy, environmentalism, secularism and multilateralism. For a liberal such as me, the importance of these values is self evident (although it should not go unquestioned). But is George W Bush's America really the best champion of these values?
Fromkin's seems oblivious to the undercurrents of American life that goes in directions opposite to the ones he champions. He discusses Woodrow Wilson's League of Nation as an embodiment of American values in International Relations. But his book is missing one crucial name: Henry Cabot Lodge, who stopped the US from entering the league of nation.
As a world leader, the United States does embody values of freedom, secularism and multilateralism. But it also has values which are unilateral, imperialistic, protectionist and isolationist. A safe prediction is that the world will be shaped significantly by the US decision of which of these sets of values, or which combination thereof, it will pursue in the 21st century.
A glimpse of the past, present, and future.......2003-09-11
Any reader should be weary of authors who want to write the history of the world in 200 pages; but the "Way of the World" stands out as an elegant narrative that captures the progression of humankind since the dawn of civilizations to the present.
David Fromkin, a professor at Boston University, has written the history of the world in a thematic sequence. He has identified eight defining moments that shaped the evolution of humans since the beginning of time: becoming human, inventing civilization, developing a conscience, seeking a lasting peace, achieving rationality, uniting the planet, releasing nature's energies, and ruling ourselves.
The author's treatment appeals to those interested in an introductory history, though the book's easy flow is sure to not bore anyone. The "Way of the World" is well suited for a history or an introductory international relations class, and especially for readers who wish to gain an overview of human history within which to frame further investigation. The book's rich bibliography also serves that purpose.
Equally interesting is the author's prediction of the future. Professor Fromkin uses historiography to pass onto educated futurology; he offers his own account of where the world is heading by referring to others who have stared in the crystal ball and prophesized the future (wisely or poorly) and by investigating closely current trends. This blend of compelling story-telling, academic study and well grounded prognostication sets the book apart.
not that interesting.......2003-08-10
A boring book that didn't illuminate much for me. The idea of writing a brief history of human progress is wonderful yet this book doesn't encompass enough and is at many times very boring. I wouldn't recommend it but I also don't have an alterative book to recommend on the subject.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on April 1, 1999. The length of the article is 613 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.
Citation Details
Title: The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-first Century.(Review)
Author: Christopher Carduff
Publication:
New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 1999
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 17
Issue: 8
Page: 74(1)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Amazon.com
The icy deaths of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions on their return from the South Pole in 1912 made them English icons of courage and sacrifice. Soon, however, Scott's judgments and decisions were questioned, and his reputation became one of inept bungler rather than heroic pioneer. Susan Solomon, senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Colorado, approaches Scott's story from a meteorologist's point of view. She shows that the three weeks from February 27 to March 19, during which the explorers fell further and further behind the daily distances they had to cover in order to survive, were far colder than normal. Unusual blizzards of wet snow had already slowed the party and depleted their provisions and strength. Without these once-in-a-decade phenomena, Solomon believes the party would have returned to its base on the Ross Sea--second after Roald Amundsen in the race to the Pole, but safely. She opens each chapter with comments from a hypothetical modern visitor to Antarctica, presumably to give a wider context to the human drama of the last century, though this reviewer finds them inappropriate. She enriches her narratives of Scott's two Antarctic expeditions with vintage photographs and tables of meteorological data that highlight the explorers' achievements. Their determination was pitted against the worst weather in the world. Scott's story has been told many times before, but its weather information makes The Coldest March a useful addition to the literature. --John Stevenson
Book Description
"Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale."--R. Scott, written after traveling for weeks of daily temperatures below minus 35 F. This riveting book tells the tragic story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his British team who in November 1911 began a trek across the snows of Antarctica, striving to be the first to reach the South Pole. After marching and skiing more than nine hundred miles, the men reached the Pole in January 1912, only to suffer the terrible realization that a group of five Norwegians had been there almost a month earlier. On their return journey, Scott and his four companions perished, and their legacy--as courageous heroes or tragic incompetents--has been debated ever since. Susan Solomon brings a scientific perspective to understanding the men of the expedition, their staggering struggle, and the reasons for their deaths. Drawing on extensive meteorological data and on her own personal knowledge of the Antarctic, she depicts in detail the sights, sounds, legends, and ferocious weather of this singular place. And she reaches the startling conclusion that Scott's polar party was struck down by exceptionally frigid weather--a rare misfortune that thwarted the men's meticulous predictions of what to expect. Solomon describes the many adventures and challenges faced by Scott and his men on their journey, and she also discusses each one's life, contributions, and death. Her poignant and beautifully written book restores them to the place of honor they deserve.
Customer Reviews:
Focus on weather doesn't tell the whole story.......2007-02-12
I've read several books on this subject. This one doesn't add quite enough.
What's important to note is that Scott's expedition was not considered a failure at the time. His primary goal, unlike Amundsen, was to gather scientific data, not reach the pole first. Amundsen traveled fast and light; Scott put scientific discovery first. Among other achievements, the rock fossils his men gathered later contributed to proving plate tectonics.
While Solomon's weather information is fascinating, the book "Captain Scott" by Ranulph Fiennes covers absolutely everything that was a factor, including the hellish weather. Fiennes even crossed the Antarctic using Scott's methods.
Fiennes was moved to undertake his dangerous mission by "The Last Place on Earth," which he viewed as a slander of Scott's achievements. A British court agreed; the author of "The Last Place on Earth" was ordered to pay damages to Scott's son.
Fiennes gives detailed background on all of Scott's decisions, including what is seen as one of his greatest errors, using ponies instead of dogs.
Although the book "The Last Place on Earth" was found to be slander, the drama by the same name, available on DVD, is a fine piece of film making with excellent performances. Don't take it as gospel, though.
Cold, yes, but..........2006-03-23
Solomon's is a well-written book that begs the question: How many ways are there to say that it is cold in winter at Antarctica?
Solomon builds a molehill of meteorological data that pales in comparison to mountains of other evidence. Scott's lack of provisions, inadequate marking of depots, splitting of teams, depoting of ski and evaporation of stored fuel are not the only problems with his journey.
Scott apologists lay the journey's failure and death of the party on the bad weather encountered at the end. They fail to note that 2 companions had already died by the last encampment and the last (Evans) party barely made it back 3 weeks earlier (for the same reasons listed above).
The sheer fact of the matter is, that on a journey of over FOUR MONTHS, Scott had barely FOUR DAYS of extra rations for a job requiring 5000 calories per man per day.
A 3% margin of error in the coldest, windiest, least hospitable corner of the globe is hoping on more than luck...
This is not the place to take chances.......2006-02-12
Susan Solomon's book on the ill-fated Scott expedition of 1911-1912 tries to refute the Scott bashing in Roland Huntford's superior book, "The Last Place on Earth." Huntford carefully explains why the lesser-known Amundsen deserves praise while Scott pretty much kills himself. Solomon describes Scott as a "bumbler"- someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence. But her title and thesis is- it was the weather's fault. Inspector Clouseau was a bumbler. Scott's "preparation and leadership" cost him and all his men their lives.
The best part of Solomon's book is her make-believe Antarctic visitor. One evening he watches the television serial "The Last Place on Earth" based on Huntford's book. She even quotes from it, "Any man who sits in his tent in the Antarctic and whines about the weather is not fit to lead." She then explains it was very cold. She should have kept quoting the film because it has many great quotes she didn't use; allow me to recite just a few. "Men die; cattle die; I thyself shall die; one thing I know shall never die- Judgment over the Dead". Hello Susan.
In Scott's group, Meares says, "I took a trip across Siberia a journey of 2,000 miles, taught me many things, but chiefly I learned the narrowness of the line that man walks in nature between farce and tragedy, a lesson the Norwegians have learned on sea, on ice and mountain; it is a lesson Scott and his kind will never learn." I don't know if Mr. Meares said this but his case is stronger than Solomon's.
Finally, the most eloquent for last. Amundsen warns his men to lay out markers an additional 2 miles in both directions of a depot. "Two miles?" they ask. "Yes" replies Amundsen, "This is not the place to take chances."
If Susan Solomon wants to blame the weather, okay, but perhaps she has been breathing the ozone too long.
An unforgiving land.......2005-10-17
Primarily a scientific investigation and a good one at that, with the human interest aspect secondary but significant. Solomon is very informative. Being in the Antartic may mean not just reckoning with the cold but also with low humidiity and high elevation. What being severely frostbitten is like. Considerations of what to bring on an Antartic expedition. The impact on bodies and minds as the temperature drops lower and lower.
Diary fragments are used heavily to reveal what Scott and his team were thinking. Solomon's tone is more descriptive than dramatic. One page the team has reached the South Pole and not many pages later, with little buildup, they are dead. Much of the human interest comes from Solomon's speculations after that as to why the team died as they did.
For a polar story told with less science but more drama, try also "Mawson's Will" by Leonard Bickel. They complement each other well. That Mawson, alone of his team, escaped the fate of Scott and his team is incredible. The PBS video based on "The Coldest March", an episode of the "Secrets of the Dead" series entititled "Tragedy at the Pole" is excellent.
"The worst weather in the world".......2005-07-17
The Coldest March (referring to the month as well as the verb) is about British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his team of explorers and scientists who raced a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen to the South Pole in 1911-12. Amundsen was the first ever to reach the Pole. Scott and four of his crew (hand-chosen by Scott) reached the Pole a month later. Amundsen's team made it back but Scott's did not. Many books and reports have been written since trying to explain why Scott failed to return. Many critics site several bad decisions on the part of Scott leading to the legend that he was a bumbler. Scott kept a journal right to the end and sometimes his self-effacing entries fueled the criticism.
Susan Solomon may seem to have an agenda. Throughout the book, Solomon attempts to defend many of Scott's decisions and actions. She has tremendous expertise in the subject. Solomon studied the Ozone layer in the Antarctic. She is a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado. When considering the legend of Scott, Solomon admits that she assumed the Brit explorer foolishly disregarded the power of Mother Nature until she studied the data and diaries left by Scott and his crew (xvii). While Solomon often defends Scott against highly critical historical accounts like Huntford's The Last Place on Earth, she is no apologist. She also points out Scott's errors and baffling decisions.
At the beginning of each chapter, Solomon includes part of the experiences of a modern-day Antarctic visitor. This visitor is not a specific person but a conglomeration of typical visitors. At first I was confused as, while reading about this modern experience, the story would shift gears to 1911-12. Soon, I figured out the pattern. The modern stories are at the beginning of each chapter (only about 2-3 pages each) and are in bold print. These stories are able to demonstrate clearly the issues or problems surrounding the Scott legend: i.e. comparing the huge stock of frozen vegetables at the warehouse there today and the comfortable living conditions against what Scott and his him men faced (pp. 71-2), the importance of drinking plenty of water in higher elevations versus the meager cups of tea Scott and company could drink each day with the scarce fuel they had, (p. 209), how much a visitor suffers in just a short period in extreme conditions (p. 286), etc. These stories, especially one explaining the need to risk snowblindness to better see crevasses (p. 183) helped me, as a reader who will never experience anything remotely close to the Antarctic, better understand the issues people face there.
Solomon clearly refutes points of criticism of Scott: i.e. that his men suffered from scurvy because they refused to eat seal meat or their ponies (pp. 3, 176), that the final five men who journeyed to the Pole did not have enough to eat because they only prepared food for four (p. 213), etc. She does point out Scott's weaknesses and mistakes. For example, he put too much faith in the opinions of some of his men (p. 86) and, even more importantly, he planned by the margins, putting too much stock in past experiences and not preparing for the possibility of worse case scenarios as did Amundsen. The inferior sleeping bags and faulty fuel cans were significant problems stemming from a lack of proper testing and preparation. Solomon is no sycophant and makes a fair assessment based on Scott's and his men's diaries and other primary sources.
What makes this work a fresh approach is the information on weather conditions taken from stations set up near Scott's path. They provided data for several decades demonstrating that the conditions Scott faced during the last month of their lives (March 1912) were extremely rare and perhaps unprecedented. What is puzzling is Solomon's conclusions which are contradictory. She discusses the rarity of the blizzard they faced in March 1912 and then shifts to explain that a 10-day blizzard noted in Scott's diary probably did not occur and that the men stayed in their tent for other reasons; one possibly being Scott's frost-bitten foot. Then, out-of-the-blue, Solomon mentions a suicide plan Scott wrote in his diary on March 11 involving opium tablets (p. 322). They decided not to take them but it seems odd to only mention such an entry briefly towards the end of the book. They probably lived another 18 or more days. Her confusing and inconclusive ending is the only criticism I have of this well-written and fascinating book. It is extremely well-researched and, on a historical level, offers fresh ideas and approaches. She also discusses the men on Scott's team (Edward Wilson, Lawrence Oates, Henry Bowers, Edgar Evans, Lt. Edward Evans, Apsely Cherry-Garrard, etc.) describing some of their backgrounds, characters, and personalities which added a lot to the human side of the story.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Arctic, published by Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary on December 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1187 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.
Citation Details
Title: The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition. (book review)
Author: John Splettstoesser
Publication:
Arctic (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2001
Publisher: Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary
Volume: 54
Issue: 4
Page: 464(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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How to Get Water Smart: Products and Practices for Saving Water in the Nineties
Buzz Ubzzell , and
Peggy Good
Manufacturer: Terra Firma Books
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- The Duke of Alba
- The Encyclopedia of New Jersey
- The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (Canto)
- The Federalist Era 1789-1801
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Interventional Radiology Essentials
- Dawn Breakers - Nabil's Narrative
- Blackbelly: A Novel
- Deadstock
- Chanel and Her World
- Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces
- Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill
- ROAM: A Reader in the Aesthetics of Mobility
- Blizzard of the Blue Moon
- Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East
World War II for Dummies
U.S. History for Dummies
U.S. Presidents for Dummies
The Everything Civil War Book: Everything You Need to Know About the War That Divided the Nation (Everything Series)
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Civil War, 2nd Edition (The Complete Idiot's Guide)
