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George B. Mcclellan: The Young Napoleon |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Napoleon Bonaparte > Item 48
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George B. Mcclellan: The Young Napoleon
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by Stephen W. Sears
Sales Rank: 426596
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List Price: $19.95
$19.95
At Amazon
on 8-3-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 510 pages
Published by: Da Capo Press May 6, 1999
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0306809133
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0306809132
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
Weighs: 1.6 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
Controversial commander of the Northern army in the Civil War, Gen. George McClellan saw himself as God's chosen instrument for saving the Union. "This masterly biography is an amazing portrait of an egotistical crank who could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory," commended PW. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Sears finds serious faults with McClellan's generalship in each of the Civil War campaigns, especially in 1862 in Virginia and at Antietam, Maryland, perhaps the turning point battle of the war. He concludes that the general's personality problems, poor leadership, and failure to realistically evaluate Confederate forces should have precluded him from holding the Union's top commands. Sears's views sharply contrast with Warren Hassler's more favorable evaluations in General George B. McClellan: Shield of the Union (1957; Greenwood, 1974. reprint). Engagingly written and thoroughly researched, Sears's persuasive critique is the best and most complete biography of this controversial general. Joseph G. Dawson III, Texas A&M Univ., College Station
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: George B McClellan: The Young Napoleon (Paperback)
George B. McClellan has always been something of an enigma, both during his lifetime and since. Stephen W. Sears who is a well know author to Civil War readers decided to take on the task of doing a biography of this puzzling man in 1988 and he has, as usual, done an outstanding job. Just be aware that this is not a true biography as much as it is a military biography. There is little written record of McClellan's childhood so Sears has little to work with there but most of the General's early life is dealt with in a few chapters. His life after he leaves active duty with the army also gets little attention. Large books are written just about one campaign while Sears gives McClellan's entire presidential campaign less than fifty pages. His life after the election of 1864 gets even less attention and his time as Governor of New Jersey gets only a few pages. Still, most readers who pick up a book about McClellan are interested mostly in his wartime service and that is exactly what they get here. Sears does an excellent job of describing various engagements without going into so much detail that he looses the reader. He also gives a very good account of how the General became the favorite of his troops. Basically, McClellan took care of his men and looked out for their welfare. So much so that his desire to avoid casualties became one of his downfalls and Sears is quick to point out McClellan's faults, of which there were many. Overall though, Sears seems to be a little hard on his subject and gives him little credit even when it is due. For example, in dealing with how quickly McClellan got his army reorganized and back in fighting form after 2nd Manassas Sears only points out that it was accomplished. In fact, I really can't see any other general on either side putting an army back together after a devastating defeat and having it on the move in such a short time. On the other hand, as Sears points out McClellan seemed to be absolutely incapable of committing his army to battle. Of course the intelligence he was getting from Allan Pinkerton didn't help as the famous detective always over estimated Confederate strength by at least fifty percent. McClellan took these reports to heart as he did reports from officers who had obviously interviewed Confederate plants who fed them false information. Clearly these problems didn't help but some of the figures of enemy strength were just downright silly and the General should have been able to sense that. Instead he always seems to have taken the worst scenario to heart and he wasted chance after chance to inflict major defeats on the Confederates. McClellan was indeed his own worst enemy. Although John B. Magruder does get some long overdue credit in this book for his theatrical tactics that kept McClellan frozen in place several times on the peninsula. Hopefully someday, someone will do a good biography on Magruder. Sears also deals with the General's relationship with the Lincoln Administration and he does so in an excellent manner. Both McClellan and Lincoln seem to have been a little over sensitive about each other on occasion but McClellan was much worse than Lincoln. On the other hand the General wasn't just paranoid about Secretary Stanton. Stanton was indeed out to get him, as were radical members of Congress. The author as stated before is a little hard on McClellan but overall this is an excellent book. Sears has grown as a historian since he wrote this volume but this is still probably the definitive work on Little Mac, and probably always will be. To understand the war in the east one must try to come to grips with McClellan and his personality. This book will go a long way in helping you do just that.
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George B. Mcclellan: The Young Napoleon
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Price: $19.95
Updated on 8-3-2008.
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