Summer's Bloodiest Days: The Battle of Gettysburg as Told from All Sides
Gr 4-7–Pulling readers headlong into the sights, sounds, and smells of the battle at Gettysburg, Weber paints a picture, rich in descriptive detail, of terrifying encounters, exhausted soldiers, and tedious waiting mixed with chaos and confusion. She outlines how this decisive showdown was actually more happenstance than strategy, and how General Lee's defeat here, while it did not end the war, put him and the Southern army on the defensive for the next two years, never allowing them to gain back an advantage. While the three-day battle is described chronologically, the author begins with Lincoln's famous address at the dedication of the memorial cemetery and then provides some context for the war, its causes, and basic highlights up until those fateful days in early July. The narration is occasionally confusing as it hops between the Northern and Southern perspectives as well as explaining troop movements, various commanders, regiments, and locations in and around Gettysburg. The text is interspersed with bits of first-person accounts, original photographs, and reprints of flyers and other primary-source material that make it an invaluable resource for students and teachers. A detailed time line, websites, and a bibliography are useful additions. Font sizes for captions and sidebars are small, which can be distracting, but overall this is an attractive, informative account of an important American event.–Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA. (c) Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.