Fought in a tangled forest fringing the south bank of the Rapidan River; the Battle of the Wilderness marked the initial engagement in the climactic months of the Civil War in Virginia; and the first encounter between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. In an exciting narrative; Gordon C. Rhea provides the consummate recounting of that conflict of May 5 and 6; 1864; which ended with high casualties on both sides but no clear victor. With its balanced analysis of events and people; command structures and strategies; The Battle of the Wilderness is operational history as it should be written.
#34450 in Books Beacon Press 2007-11-01 2007-11-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .71 x 5.50l; .80 #File Name: 0807072133296 pagesBeacon Press
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Concerned about Poverty and Classicism in America...a must read!By LWJThis deeply moving biographical novel succinctly captures the eternal and historical struggle of the integrated relationship between racism and classicism in America. The trials and tribulations of a poor; large; White Irish family living in a Boston housing project clearly reflect the exact same life experiences of other poor ethnic/racial groups trying to make it and survive in this land of promised opportunity.Although the South Boston Bulger gangster phenomenon serves as a Greek chorus to the times; this passionate family story itself totally overshadows that scourge and underscores the unending challenges; desperation; and heartache of living poor in America.Adjust the color lens and; historically; you witness how political "saviors" prey on the vulnerabilities of the innocent and uninformed...all in the name of making America great again.All Souls takes place in the late 70's when the issue of busing and desegregation dominated Boston as well as national headlines. The reputation of the "hub of the educational universe"; as an overtly racist enclave; intensified greatly at that time and still lingers today.This worthwhile novel; itself; is actually timeless in its themes of family crisis; intervention; and survival.All Souls is an excellent vehicle to use in high school and college classrooms to encourage discussions on the impact of racism and classicism in today's America and the future implications of its continued course.Definitely a thumbs up selection!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. memoir; sociology; living history; great characters -- lots of reasons to read this excellent memoirBy Anon. In northern CaliforniaIt's taken me a few weeks to digest All Souls after finishing it. It's a very good memoir; and of a time place that have not been memorialized from this perspective (as far as I know; although there is some great lit. that deals w/ it). Apart from the excellent narrative writing; this story of an Irish-American lad in the 70s-80s of South Boston is worthwhile for some other reasons.If you need no other; the characters are sublime! And real. What a cast Southie offered!As MacDonald mentions; when we think of school desegregation battles; we think of the South. Most of us don't know; or recall; that much about the vitriolic and violent anti-bussing battles of the 70s in Boston. A slice of American life in the 20th century for real. As I write; I'm put in mind of Angela's Ashes and I'm thinking about enculturated values of resistance; clannishness; and disempowerment. I'm going to assume that many of the folks who peopled the small homes and city housing that MacDonald writes about were one-to-three generations off the peat; small holders or landless sons; women without opportunities; impoverished and beaten down. For whatever reason; they didn't get a good foothold on "The American Dream" when they came here. Poverty; welfare; lack of ownership; ignorance; lack of birth control (thanks to the times and the Roman Catholic church); joblessness -- then drugs; organized crime and guns -- didn't float them upward. (And another reason likely being that there were 10s of thousands of Irish who immigrated to America; many of them going no further than the port of Boston. With the prejudice against Irish immigrants; there were only so many jobs available. The tradition of getting a "good" job with the police or fire dept.; if one could; continues to this day.) The MacDonalds were a seemingly perfect microcosm of the times and the Irish-American history of immigration. Some got away; some bettered their lives; some got pulled under. I want to say that I am impressed by Michael MacDonald's ability to report as he did; especially considering his age when he wrote the book and the multiple psychological traumas he had endured. He never leaves his characters; to confidentially dis them to the reader. He is assiduously careful not to judge; he places his characters in their contexts and lets you react. He does not preach. He does not attempt to explain overmuch. There are so many ways a person who had experienced and witnessed what he has could adopt a mask as he wrote -- disingenuously or subconsciously -- to distance himself from the story or to try to place himself in a justifiable context. I do not feel that he did. In this; the book's an excellent example of 1st-person reportage; living history; of which I am a big fan.There are 100s of ways for we humans to suffer; whether it's the janjaweed or Whitey Bulger (the Irish gangster responsible for many of the drugs and murders in So. Boston in the 70s. Thank God they got that a-hole; just a sad little geriatric when they caught up to him… the banality of evil!) I might have liked MacDonald to explain or narrate; though; just a bit more about WHY the Irish despised the blacks in the next neighborhood so much. I'm left to assume it's the old story of the beleaguered seeking power by uniting against a common; and also disempowered; enemy. I was also taken with the self-mythologizing of Southie -- which I guess occurred for the same reason. When you ain't got much; you can still claim you have your dignity; even if it's a flimsy and self-destructive sense of honor.An excellent read; the kind you read while brushing your teeth because you don't want to put it down. Hugs to the MacDonalds for persevering without poisoning their souls.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Good read. Michael's family biography will pull at your heart.By M. GamacheAn extremely well written book. Being four years older than the author and growing up 25 miles away from Southie; I remember the forced integration and the resulting riots. It was definitely an education to see this from someone who lived through it.Reading what the MacDonald family had to endure; along with their neighbors; was an eye opener. The politicians; police and Whitey didn't do anything to actually help the poor in Southie; Roxbury or numerous other areas around Boston.
