Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the War Between the States Book

This is History Lite, author Cormac O'Brien giving us entertaining bios of many of the leading figures of the Civil War. But if you're looking for any analysis of these leaders and the War, you should go to other books. However, the stories are enjoyable. We get Lincoln, who is interestingly described as both "the funniest and most depressed man many in Washington ever met." We also have his wife, Mary. O'Brien has a lot of sympathy for the woman who could so often be a burden on her husband. She had a keen intelligence and a ready wit and was a good adviser to her husband during his rise to the presidency. Most unfortunately, she was undone by her son Willie's death in 1862. After her husband's assassination, she was frequently in despair and ill. But she didn't deserve it when her son Robert had her taken to court to defend her sanity. She was committed to an institution in Batavia, Illinois. Jeff Davis is included, of course, as well as his wife Varina. She was shrewder in her judgments of people than Jeff. He should have listened to her! Most of the figures in the book are generals such as Grant, Sherman, McClellan, Burnside, and Sheridan for the North, Lee, Jackson, Jeb Stuart, Braxton Bragg, and Nathan Bedford Forrest for the South. But there are also such characters as William Clarke Quantrill, the Rebel guerrilla leader. He led the attack on Lawrence, Kansas, where 150 men and boys were killed. Sarah Emma Edmonds is featured. She was one of many women who disguised herself as a man to serve in the Civil War. There are a lot of interesting characters, but many are missing. John Wilkes Booth is not included nor is Clara Barton- nor is Swedish inventor of the USS Monitor John Ericsson-- and generals such as George Thomas, Joseph Johnston, and young George A. Custer are missing. You can't cover everyone.