Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-10-08
The Neu Books
Lees Lieufenonts. Vol. W.)
BIZ DOUGLAS Southal Freeman.

fScribner. $5.)
This volume brings to 4 close
Douglas Southall Freemans mas
sive study Of the military leaders
Of the Confederacy. The book has
become 4 history OF the whole action
|of the Army Of Northern Virginia,
but its direction Is the opposite
from that classicAlly taken by war
histories. 1t proceeds from men to
strategy. instead Of from strategy to|
men. It Is q war history in terms OF
human temperaments, but 1t is al
war history Just the same and one
OF the greatest ever written.
The present volume carries on
from Gettysburg to Appomattox.
The unifying theme, though It Isl
never emphasized, Is Lees struggle
to maintain his command in the
face Of the appalling Casualties suf-
fered by his stan. DR.. Freeman,
drawing up in his foreword a list
LOT the lessons to be learned from
the war, puts first the statement
that professional training proved to
be indispensable to men holding
rank above q colonelcy. that no de-
gree Of bravery. determination or
doggedness could compensate for al
scientific military education, and
Lees, supply Of trained officers was
|of course a limited one. BY Nav,
1854, he says. the command had
practically collapsed.
The great coverage and detail of
the volume makes anything like
an adequate review impossible, and
one can only mention certain fca-
lures to which DR.. Freeman has
given certain emphasis. There is
new light on Longstreet's historical
delay at Gettysburg, which partially
serves as vindication, there is a !
closely detailed account of Jubal
Early's Shenandoah campaign, there !
Is vivid study OF Jeb Stuart, based
on unpublished papers by five OF his
stan ofncers; there Is an analysis Of
the services Of supply and trans
portation. of desertion. In an ap-
pendix there is an account of the
careers OF the surviving officers after
the war. But the vast volume Of |
the vast book deals with the tactics
Of the great battles which it covers
In terms Of the personalities engaged
in the fighting. In this the work is
encyclopedia. There Is no other his
tory to which it can be compared. \
Volley Of the Sky
By Hobart Douglas Skidmore.
(Houghton Mi17in: ST.
This is one Of the fine pieces of
fiction to come out Of the war. The
reviewer would rate it with Howard
Hunts Limit Of Darkness" as a
bit Of writing likely to be read for
its merits after the fighting has
ended. The author Is q soldier and |
was for seven months in the combat |
zone Of which he writes-the South
Pacific.
His story, like Mr.. Hunts, takes
q group Of men bound together by
Fellowship in arms, gives the reader
a psychological portrait of each man
and carries them on to their death
in battle. That is all. The pattern
has been used many times by writer's
OF war fiction, but 1t has not always
been brought to significance.
Hobert Douglas Skidmore casts
the familiar outline in terms of
pity, OF such sorrow for the slain as
may last in the minds Of the re-
membering after the war is ended
His group consists Of 10 men who
make up the crew of q Liberator.
They have carried out an unusual
number OF successful missions: he
describes one Of these in detail. Then
he paints rapidly the conclusion of
the mission, which is their last, the
one which they have all known was
somewhere ahead of them. Like |
Mr.. Hunt, he makes it plain that
these young men have no real ex-
pectation Of coming out of the war
alive, that they know they live un-
der sentence. But where Mr.. Hunt
depicts the futility, as it appears
to the individual, he depicts the |
hope and idealism. It takes a fine
hand to do this realistically, in terms
OF the thinking of average hard
headed young man, but he has
brought it of, Notwithstanding.
Bride in the SoIomons
By Osa Johnson. (Houghton
Mitfin: $780,
The indefatigable Osa CMrs. Mar
TIM johnson has recalled here her
early adventures as an explorer in
the Solomon Islands-now that
those islands are SO very much in
the public eve. It was one OF the |