Hailed as prophet of modern war and condemned as a harbingerof modern barbarism, William Tecumseh Sherman is themost controversial general of the American Civil War. "War iscruelty, and you cannot refine it," he wrote in fury to the Confederatemayor of Atlanta, and his memoir is filled with dozensof such wartime exchanges. With the propulsive energy andintelligence that marked his campaigns, Sherman describesstriking incidents and anecdotes and collects dozens of his incisiveand often outspoken wartime orders and reports. Thiscomplex self-portrait of an innovative and relentless Americanwarrior provides firsthand accounts of the war's crucial events-Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, the Atlanta campaign, themarches through Georgia and the Carolinas.

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