Overview

Richard McMurry compares the two largest Confederate armies, assessing why Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was more successful than the Army of Tennessee. His bold conclusion is that Lee's army was a better army--not just one with a better high command. """"Sheds new light on how the South lost the Civil War.""""-- American Historical Review """"McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read. . . . Comparison of the two great rebel armies offers valuable insights into the difficulties of the South's military situation.""""-- Maryland Historian |In Engines of Innovation, Holden Thorp and Buck Goldstein make the case for the pivotal role of research universities as agents of societal change. They argue that universities must use their vast intellectual and financial resources to confront global challenges such as climate change, extreme poverty, childhood diseases, and an impending worldwide shortage of clean water. They provide not only an urgent call to action but also a practical guide for our nation's leading institutions to make the most of the opportunities available to be major players in solving the world's biggest problems. A preface and a new chapter by the authors address recent developments, including innovative licensing strategies, developments in online education, and the value of arts and sciences in an entrepreneurial society.

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Reviews

McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read.<p> Maryland Historian

""Two Great Rebel Armies"" is that rare treat, a scholarly book that makes for enjoyable reading.""Ohio History"" McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read.""Maryland Historian"" """"Two Great Rebel Armies"" is that rare treat, a scholarly book that makes for enjoyable reading.""Ohio History"""" ""McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read.""Maryland Historian"""" Indispensable for all future studies of Confederate military history.""Choice"" Sheds new light on how the South lost the Civil War.""American Historical Review""

An entirely competent comparative study of the strategy, tactics, and generalship of the two mightiest Confederate hosts - the Army of Tennessee and the Army of Northern Virginia - together with an account of the melees concerning their fates. A biographer of the Rebel general, John Bell Hood, McMurry upholds the standard of the Army of Northern Virginia and of its leader, Robert E. Lee. McMurry had intended to describe only the Atlanta campaign of 1864, but he found himself forced backward in time to account for it fully. He ended, moreover, caught up in the historiographical straggle surrounding Lee's personality - a personality driven, according to arch-inconoclast Thomas Connelly, by fear of failure and riddled with self-doubt, both of which caused Lee to advocate murderous offensive tactics and fatally to neglect grand strategy - and which later led to neglect of the vaster and more crucial western war and to overconcentration on Virginia. Without throwing all of Connelly's (and others') arguments over the side, McMurry plumps for Lee. He shows the Army of Tennessee to have been led by all-but-criminal incompetents who lost nearly every time, even when, in contrast to Lee, they usually outnumbered their foes. Taking into account the full range of recent scholarship touching these matters, while offering precise distillations of the hotly fought issues started up by them, McMurry's work is, on the whole, fair to all and logical in its conclusions. A blend of 90-proof Civil War erudition and industrial-strength military history, this is worth the toil of its glacial pace. McMurry has done well, particularly by those who want to know why the Army of Tennessee did so poorly. (Kirkus Reviews)

Sheds new light on how the South lost the Civil War. American Historical Review Indispensable for all future studies of Confederate military history. Choice McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read. Maryland Historian Two Great Rebel Armies is that rare treat, a scholarly book that makes for enjoyable reading. Ohio History McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read. Maryland Historian Two Great Rebel Armies is that rare treat, a scholarly book that makes for enjoyable reading. Ohio History

McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read. Maryland Historian Two Great Rebel Armies is that rare treat, a scholarly book that makes for enjoyable reading. Ohio History McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read. Maryland Historian Two Great Rebel Armies is that rare treat, a scholarly book that makes for enjoyable reading. Ohio History Sheds new light on how the South lost the Civil War. American Historical Review Indispensable for all future studies of Confederate military history. Choice

McMurry's mastery of the literature is impressive, and his clear and succinct writing style is a pleasure to read. Maryland Historian

Author Information

Richard M. McMurry, a historian who lives and works in Roanoke, Virginia, specializes in the history of the Civil War in the West. His books include John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence.

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