The Destructive War

September 30, 1991
In this fresh take on the Civil War, Royster ( Light-Horse Harry Lee ) examines two opposing generals who epitomize the extremes to which warfare was pushed between 1861 and 1865: Confederate Thomas ``Stonewall'' Jackson and the Union army's William T. Sherman, both of whom justified drastic means with elaborate claims of righteousness. For Jackson it was the righteousness of the Almighty. Desiring to annihilate his foe (while taking no prisoners), he convinced many people, including the soldiers whose lives he risked and lost, that God favored his every move. In Sherman's case it was the righteousness of retribution. Of the losing Confederates he said, ``They brought it on themselves. . . . They need to learn the folly of making war against the government.'' Royster impressively captures the implacable ruthlessness of these two generals and shows how their campaigns shattered certain ethical restraints, which have not been restored in America's subsequent wars. The chapters on Sherman's destruction of Columbia, S.C., the death of Jackson and the Grand Review of the Union formations in the nation's capital are magnificently done. Illustrations. History Book Club main selection.

January 11, 1993
Bancroft, Parkman and Lincoln prize winner Royster (The Destructive War, etc.) shows several of our deservedly revered founding fathers as something else besides the brave defenders of liberty we met in our high school history books. Royster's portraits of George Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and the two William Byrds show them as very human, sometimes conniving, often foolish and occasionally vulgar businessmen in the midst of an enterprise that, for them at least, ended in failure. Through diligent research, Royster, a professor of history at Louisiana State University, has excavated the tangled tale of a mercurial firm that proposed draining and developing the Dismal Swamp, a wide swath of bogs on the isolated Virginia-North Carolina border. In relating the story of the Dismal Swamp Company, Royster delivers brilliant character sketches and a remarkable window into Virginia society from colonial times to the Revolution and up through the 1830s, when remnants of the enterprise still lingered on, quite unprofitably. There are, of course, contemporary overtones: any tale of shrewd politicians making foolish mistakes in starry-eyed land speculation is bound to propel the word "Whitewater" into readers' minds. In sum, this is first-class work: an elegant, entertaining account of a little-known--and often ironically hilarious--slice of early American history.