About the Author

John F. Marszalek is W. L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Mississippi State University. He is the author or editor of thirteen books, including most recently Sherman's March to the Sea, Commander of All Lincoln's Armies: A Life of General Henry W. Halleck, and The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson's White House.

Reviews

John Marszalek's no-nonsense biography covers all the bases. - Washington Post Book World ""A thoughtful and generally sympathetic biography of one of the Civil War's most controversial commanders."" - USA Today ""Based on exhaustive research, written smoothly, and argued intelligently, [Sherman] easily surpasses any existing volume on William Tecumseh Sherman's lengthy and controversial life."" - Journal of American History

Sherman taught America that ``War is hell'' as he swept through Georgia and the Carolinas to destroy the Confederates' will to resist. The roots of Sherman's philosophy of total war and of his enigmatic personality have fascinated historians since the Civil War, when Sherman was thought both insane and brilliant. Now, in Marszalek's ( Grover Cleveland, Greenwood Pr., 1988) full and fascinating biography, we get the whole man--a warrior who hated killing but carried war to civilians; a foster son craving paternal approval who led hardened men; a writer and talker who preferred action to words. Marszalek finds the key to Sherman in his search for order, both in a private life troubled by uncertain financial prospects and relations and in a civil war, and later Indian wars, where old West Point verities did not apply. That Sherman was a troubled soul who sought to make his family appreciate his trials and triumphs is evident in the small cache of Sherman letters published for the first time in Joseph Ewing's Sherman at War (Morningside, 1992). The new letters notwithstanding, Marszalek's psychobiographical musings about Sherman's inner self doubtless will cause some historians to blush. But the rich historical contextual material on everything from Western finances, Indian wars in Florida and the West, and Civil War military policy make Marszalek's Sherman real and powerful. Highly recommended.-- Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia