Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam

Book Description

The Civil War battle waged on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, was one of the bloodiest in the nation's history: in this single day, the war claimed nearly 23,000 casualties. In Landscape Turned Red, the renowned historian Stephen Sears draws on a remarkable cache of diaries, dispatches, and letters to recreate the vivid drama of Antietam as experienced not only by its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate. Combining brilliant military analysis with narrative history of enormous power, Landscape Turned Red is the definitive work on this climactic and bitter struggle.

Customer Reviews:

Reasonably good, kind of rushed telling of battle.......2007-07-17

Sears' book does better with the preliminaries than the actual battle of Antietam. The battle section is rushed and rather weak on description. Also after having just visited the battlefield I feel Sears didn't emphasize enough how completely incompetent the Union generalship was and how the war in the east should have ended on that day. By way of example Burnside's 10,000 troops needed 6 hours to brush aside 500 Confederates. Also while Lee was good in a crisis the AVN shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Excellent history of a turning point in the Civil War.......2006-11-27

Stephen Sears' book, "Landscape Turned Red," is another in a series of his volumes that have clearly established him as one of the major historians of the Civil War. In this work, he addresses the bloodiest one day battle of the Civil War, and a battle that allowed President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emacipation proclamation and forever end the possibility of European recognition for the Confderacy with its "peculiar institution."

Sears sets the stage for the book when he notes (page xi):

"Of all the days on all the fields where American soldiers have fought, the most terrible by almost any measure was September 17, 1862. The battle. . .took a human toll never exceeded on any other single day in the nation's history. . .By almost any measure, too, Antietam was pivotal in the history of the Civil War."

This is a masterful description of the battle, from its earliest phases after the Union's devastating defeat at Second Manassas to its lugubrious conclusion, from the Confederacy's point of view. The book is helped greatly by a series of straightforward maps that lay out the battle very crisply.

The volume lays out the battle itself from the First Corps thrust through the 9th Corps attack on the Burnside Bridge. On the Union side, the failure of generals like Burnside, the aggressiveness of Hooker, the timidity of McLellan are all laid out nicely. As for the confderacy, Lee's stout defensive posture, aided well by the generalship of Hood, Longstreet, the two Hills, Jackson, and so on is well detailed.

This book is a must read for Civil War afficianados and provides an excellent rendering of this critical Civil War battle.

essential Civil War reading.......2006-10-22

I first read "Landscape Turned Red" along with Dick Estelle on Radio Reader almost 25 years ago. Many years later I still find it fascinating. I hesitate to say "entertaining", given the subject matter - "combined casualties for those twelve hours of combat came to 22,719. No single day of this or any other America war would surpass this fearful record." The accounts of men dying and horses dragging around their entrails pain my heart. But for the historian and buff, it is indeed fascinating.

Sears provides a very good description of the political situation and events preceding the battle, the skirmishes immediately before Antietam (e.g. Harpers' Ferry, etc.), and then the battle itself. His use of successive, chronological maps provides an excellent accompaniment to the narrative. Too many books on battles skimp on maps.

Sears gives a compelling indictment of McClellan. Stanton called him "master of cant"; Welles said he was "an intelligent engineer but not a commander"; Ben Wade said "Place him before an enemy and he will borrow like a wood chuck". Reading McClellan's letters to his wife makes my skin crawl - his delusion and arrogance are hard to fathom - or forgive.

Despite all of his advantages - from the discovery of Special Order 191 to his superior numbers - McClellan's personal performance was sub-par if not negligent, betraying the courage of his men. He had committed barely 50,000 infantry and artilleryman ... a third of his army did not fire a shot. He repeatedly applied his troops in "driblets" with out coordination or mutual support. Sear's writes that "On no other Civil War field did a commanding general violate so many of what a Union officer at Antietam called `the established principle of military art' that a professional soldier was expected to know.

Sears also provides two bonus chapters on the history of "Special Order 191" and the ill-fated attempts to cross "Burnside's Bridge".

McPherson's "Antietam: Crossroads of Freedom" - which I also recommend - focuses on the "big picture" and broader significance in political landscape, while "Landscape Turned Red" is the seminal account of Battle of Antietam. This is essential Civil War reading.

First Rate Historical Perspective.......2006-08-06

I had never read anything by Stephen Sears before and I was pleasantly surprised by "Landscape Turned Red." He has such a great style of writing and includes so many interesting little tidbits. I was so pleased with "Landscape" that I immediately ordered "The Battle of Chancellorsville", also by Sears, and it has been as good or better than "Landscape." I would highly recommend this book to anyone who finds Civil War History interesting.

Must read - The Most Pivotal point in the history of the 19th Century........2006-04-19

Lee, with his victorious Army of Northern Virginia, boldly invades Maryland (a slave state which has remained in the Union). He has no choice. His supply lines are in shambles, his army is hungry, the surrounding land (Northern Virginia) incapable of feeding his men. He must either retreat or advance. Everyone knows the Europeans are close to making a move.

If the south wins France and more importantly Britain recognize The Confederacy (The South). The British Navy breaks the blockade of the South. The war becomes un-winnable for The Union (The North). If the North Wins Lincoln issues the Proclamation that frees the slaves. The populations of democratic France and Britain will forbid their governments from fighting a war to perpetuate slavery.

Two army's of Americans converge amid many dramas which display the untried and in some cases wanting, leadership skills of old army regulars many of whom have never commanded more than a company (100 men) of regulars and are now directing tens of thousands of volunteers into an unprecedented and here to fore unimaginable carnage.

The tactics of the era are the glorious bayonet charge, a tactic rendered obsolete by the rifled muskets carried by both armies. The Brave Americans charge and are mowed down in their thousands by their fellow countrymen. The full cost of one political party's failure to compromise piles up in stacks on the field, to be later buried in mass graves.

This book should be read by any, who for political convenience, lie to other Americans in order to shape their opinions and capture their votes. Democracy requires compromise. Honest debate requires truth. The Democratic Political party bares sole responsibility for the Civil War. This horrible Karma taints their souls. And yet they still use the same political tactics of Lies, Anger and Hatred. I pray to God we don't have to pay this price again.

God Bless the American fighting man, of all wars. Many Brave American men, of both sides, died on this ground. It taught the South that however untried the American soldiers, you invade his land at your peril. Non-American's should read this book because if we will do this to our own, imagine what we will do to others. Americans are very good at killing people. And many of us are not reluctant to use these skills.

Sadly this book demonstrates that lack of reluctance.

Sears Book tells this story with great skill.

Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam

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Inside America's Deadliest Day
Far-Ranging, yet Coherent
The Most Thorough Vivisection of a Human Being I've Read
A reluctant civil war reader
A classic

Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam
Stephen W. Sears
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0395656680

Book Description

The death count from the Battle of Antietam was the largest of any single battle in American history. Landscape Turned Red, winner of the Fletcher Platt Award for best non-fiction book about the American Civil War, is the definitive work on this bitter battle. Sears bases his account on diaries, dispatches, and letters to recreate a vivid drama.

Customer Reviews:

Inside America's Deadliest Day.......2006-03-06

If the Declaration of Independence gave the United States its faith and the Constitution its creed, the Emancipation Proclamation was what saved its soul. For that to happen, the United States first had to endure a battle of unprecedented carnage, one which set a single-day record for American war casualties still unequaled. That is the story Stephen W. Sears' "Landscape Turned Red" tells so well.

Sharpsburg, Maryland was a town of limited significance but great strategic value for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, being as it was a crossroads junction that connected his Southern base with a clear shot at the northern heartland of Pennsylvania. Defensible by means of the contiguous Antietam Creek that gave the battle its Union name, not to mention considerable artillery, Sharpsburg nevertheless should not have been as difficult a battle as it was, especially when the Confederate battle plans were discovered and passed along to the Northern high command. Yet something intervened.

As Sears tells it, the main reason was the Union commander, George McClellan, a.k.a. "Little Mac," a great instiller of esprit de corps but a terrible field general, afflicted with what his mordant boss, Abraham Lincoln, called "a case of the slows."

Sears notes some reasons for that, including McClellan's fear of losing troops, his lack of initiative, and a wild overestimate of Confederate strength. But Sears notes something else dragged his hand, a lack of sympathy with the Union cause, at least as personified by Lincoln.

"It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any state," McClellan wrote to Lincoln in a document that Sears notes could well have been the basis for his later bid for the presidency against Lincoln in 1864. "Neither confiscation of property, political executions of persons, territorial organization of States, or forcible abolition of slavery should be contemplated for a moment."

The last part is most jarring to modern readers, but the sum total amounted to a declaration of cross purposes between President and his top general that mirrored the divide across the North, a divide that could only be drowned with blood. Hence Antietam.

However bad it was for his troops, it was lucky for the nation McClellan was such a poor general. A better one might have pulled the army from Lincoln's hands and allowed the national sin of slavery to continue indefinitely.

Sears presses the point of McClellan's incompetence quite a bit, noting how he released Union troops into battle in unsupported sections rather than a wholesale attack. At Sharpsburg, Robert E. Lee might as well been Bruce Lee for the way he was allowed to handle waves of attackers one at a time. He also writes blisteringly of the carnage both sides experienced, to the point where a Pennsylvanian writing home tells of "a Reckless don't care disposition" that came over him so that when two comrades were struck down near him "even their shrieks and yells did not affect me in the least."

However insane it seemed at the moment, and wasteful in immediate retrospect, the bloodiness of Sharpsburg had a purpose, one Sears enumerates in a lengthy epilogue devoted to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and that document's chilling effect on European notions of intervening on the Confederate side. In a phrase, the battle's bloody purchase was the nation's very soul.

Reading "Landscape Turned Red" is to feel anew a sense of pride in being American, but like a similarly inspiring book, David Hackett Fischer's "Washington's Crossing," it is also a work of great excitement, character, drama, and even moments of alleviating humor. Whether or not you believe America is a shining city on a hill, an example for the world to follow, "Landscape Turned Red" is a book you will be glad you read.

Far-Ranging, yet Coherent.......2005-03-21

Landscape Turned Red is a monumental effort to provide a blow-by-blow description of the bloodiest day in American history. The Battle of Antietam was pivotal to the outcome of the Civil War, even though it would still rage on for another two and a half years. Sears ably describes why Antietam was important to the Union Victory, but more importantly he is able to illustrate the key events of the battle without losing the casual reader of Civil War history. Sears has a clear, lucid style that draws the reader into not only the large-scale details of the battle, but that also provides insights into the mindsets of the major combat commanders. By doing so, this book provides one of the best comparison/contrast studies of Lee and McClellan that I have ever read. Sears doesn't push his opinion on the reader, but rather provides meticulously researched quotes, journal entries and events that make the case for him. Highly recommended.

The Most Thorough Vivisection of a Human Being I've Read.......2004-09-21

As a description of the battle of Antietam, it's hard to see how this book could ever be bettered, but its true impact lies in the author's thorough, relentless vivisection of George McClellan. We all know that McClellan was an idiot, a coward, and a weasel, but this book reveals the true depths of his idiocy, cowardice, and duplicity. This book represents the most thorough vivisection of a human being that I've ever seen. But McClellan deserved it, so no one will object.

A reluctant civil war reader.......2003-04-17

I am not a Civil War buff, not an expert but I was hooked by Stephen Sears excellent book. When I first moved to Shepherdstown which is across the Potomac from Sharpsburg I felt I should know more about the Battle of Antietam but I have never been interested in Civil War history. Despite the fact that re-enactors frequent our area and many Confederate soldiers are buried in my town (they weren't allowed to be buried in Maryland) I had little understanding of what transpired there. I read a glowing review of Landscape Turned Red in Newsweek and decided to give it a try. From the first page, I was drawn in.
I have stood in 'bloody row' and read and in the tower and read. Since then I made it a book club selection. When people visit and want to go to the battlefield, I send them home with a copy of this book. Even history haters can love it. It is well worth your time.

A classic.......2002-10-28

With this book, Sears joined the company of McPherson, Foote and Catton; that is to say, he is one of the finest writers on the Civil War. Highly recommended.

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LANDSCAPE TURNED RED-THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM
Stephen W. Sears
Manufacturer: Ticknor & Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000HEURA2

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Great book and audio on Antietam battle

Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam
Stephen W. Sears
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0786177454
Release Date: 2005-11-15

Book Description

The Civil War battle waged on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, was one of the bloodiest in the nation's history: On this single day, the battle claimed nearly 23,000 casualties. In Landscape Turned Red, the renowned historian Stephen Sears draws on a remarkable cache of diaries, dispatches, and letters to recreate the vivid drama of Antietam as experienced not only by its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate. Combining brilliant military analysis with narrative history of enormous power, Landscape Turned Red is the definitive work on this climactic and bitter struggle.

Customer Reviews:

Great book and audio on Antietam battle.......2007-09-17

The Washington Post gave this book a glowing review, and justly so. I listened to the audio from the local library, and have been waiting for the CD to come out. This is a great listen for long journeys on the hi-way.

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Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam
Stephen W. Sears
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 0786136561
Release Date: 2005-11-15

Book Description

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Landscape Turned Red the Battle of Antietam
Steophen W Sears
Manufacturer: Book of the Month Club Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HZ3GGI

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Landscape Turned Red : The Battle of Antietam
Stephen W Sears
Manufacturer: Ticknor & Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 089919172X

Book Description

September 17, 1862: Antietam. It was the bloodiest day in American history, and with the possible exception of Gettysburg, the most pivotal battle of the Civil War.

"Draws on a new body of material...an exact historian, Mr. Sears has the novelist's eye for illuminating all that was awesome and pitiable in that furious encounter." (The New York Times)

Winner of the 1983 Fletcher Pratt Award from the New York Civil War Round Table.

Slightly edited for radio presentation.

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Landscape turned red: The Battle of Antietam (Essential classics of the Civil War)
Stephen W Sears
Manufacturer: Book-of-the-Month Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006PA1PI

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Landscape Turned Red - The Battle Of Antietam
Stephen W. Sears -
Manufacturer: Book-Of-The Month Club Publishing -
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000T8H07E

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The Landscape Turned Red : The Battle of Antietam (GREAT BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR, Volume 1)

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000CC03LM

Product Description

These authoritative accounts, widely acclaimed for their compelling narrative and historical accuracy, offer a sweeping panoramic view of six crucial Civil War battles. Each magnificent volume includes a full-color frontispiece by renowned Civil War artist Mort Künstler - 6" x 9"

Book Description

This volume is the first to offer an overall survey of the architectural and artistic heritage of the Deccan Sultanate and to place this legacy within its historical context. The cultural links which existed between the Deccan and the Middle East, for example, are clearly discernible in Deccani architecture and paintings and a remarkable collection of photographs, many of which have never been published before, testify to such influences. The book will be a source of inspiration to all those interested in the rich and diverse culture of India.

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an outstanding survey of a neglected area in the art world.......1999-10-21

This scholarly work covers a long neglected area in the art world. Southern India and the contribution of Islamic art to this region has had insufficient attention over the years. Here we have renowned experts surveying the area with great skill. A book that will give great joy and value to scholars and the general reader alike.

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J. D. Bernal had a varied and fascinating life: he was an eminent crystallographer, an eloquent and prescient writer on the social implications of science, an early foe of pseudo-scientific racism, an original Marxist thinker and an indefatigable campaigner for peace and civil rights. As a leading Communist intellectual, Bernal was to be drawn into many of the central dramas of the twentieth century. While he was fted by the Soviet establishment and a recipient of the Lenin Prize, he was also a critic of the voluntarist notions of Stalin's agronomist, Trofim Lysenko. During the Second World War he was summoned by Winston Churchill to advise on methods to be used to land allied forces in Europe. In this symposium the different facets of Bernal's life and work are recounted and assessed by Eric Hobsbawm, Hilary and Steven Rose, Ivor Montagu, Ritchie Calder, Francis Aprahamian, Brenda Swann, Roy Johnston, Chris Freeman and Peter Mason.

J. D. Bernal: A Life in Science and Politics.(Review)(Brief Article): An article from: The Antioch Review

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J. D. Bernal: A Life in Science and Politics.(Review)(Brief Article): An article from: The Antioch Review
Albert B. Stewart
Manufacturer: Antioch Review, Inc.
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Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from The Antioch Review, published by Antioch Review, Inc. on March 22, 2000. The length of the article is 536 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: J. D. Bernal: A Life in Science and Politics.(Review)(Brief Article)
Author: Albert B. Stewart
Publication: The Antioch Review (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2000
Publisher: Antioch Review, Inc.
Volume: 58 Issue: 2 Page: 237

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

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The Environmental Revolution: A Guide for the New Masters of the World.
Max. Nicholson
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0070464863

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The Environmental Revolution: A Guide for the New Masters of the World.
Max. Nicholson
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFXZWQ

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