Sherman
A Soldier's Life
by Lee B. Kennett
Harper Perennial - July 23, 2002
ISBN: 0060930748 - Paperback
Nonfiction / Biography

Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks, MyShelf.Com
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Author Lee Kennett quotes Sherman's words "I must be judged as a solider," and lets readers know Sherman's military career is the focus of his study. After reading Sherman, I couldn't help but agree with Kennett's words in the preface where he explains that Sherman would agree with his limiting his coverage to the military side of the General's life.

"Necessarily, other aspects of the of the General's life can receive only limited coverage, but this choice too Sherman would have endorsed. His military career was central to his being; his marriage, his domestic and social life - all else, in fact, had to be fitted in where the army left room."

Kennett explores and reports with the help of twenty-three books of Sherman's wartime letters from the National Archives. Sherman is considered both a hero and a villain, sometimes in the same breath, but it is his prolific writings that preserved so much and allowed historians to learn his strategies and attitudes about war.

In his biography, Kennett studies Sherman's "nature and notions of waging war." He also admits painting a "sober view" of the General. He goes into Sherman's odd behavior, which has been put down by some to an inability to take criticism. Without a doubt, after reading: "The more I can kill this year the less will have to be killed next war," (referring to the Sioux Indians) Sherman evokes coldness even though he shared the attitude of many soldiers dragged into the Indian/Settler disputes. Kennett also shows Sherman's fairness when he sided with the Utes against the settlers.

Sherman is a solid work, bound to stimulate any conversation. But expect the participators to take on various opinions. Not everyone sees Sherman in the same light. The military was Sherman and Sherman was the military. I'm sure if he was alive now, there'd be a long psychological name to explain his occasional odd behavior, but instead, we will continue to speculate and discuss.

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