The History Buff's Guide to Gettysburg (Key People, Places, and Events)
"While most history books are dry monologues of people, places, events and dates,The History Buff's Guideis ingeniously written and full of not only first-person accounts but crafty prose. For example, in introducing the major commanders, the authors basically call Confederate Lt. General Richard S. Ewell a chicken literally. 'Bald, bug-eyed, beak-nosed Dick Stoddard Ewell had all the aesthetic charm of a flightless foul.' To balance things back out a few pages later, they say federal MG George Gordon Meade looked like a 'brooding gargoyle with an intense cold stare, an image in perfect step with his nature.'Although it's called a guide to Gettysburg, in my opinion, it's a authoritative guide to the Civil War. Any history buff or Civil War enthusiast or even that casual reader should pick it up.--Clif Lusk, "Book Bit" - WTBF Radio, Troy, AL