Jeff Zhang Zhang itibaren Jaspara Mandva, Gujarat 364081, Hindistan
Stephen Ambrose histories are always simple and easy-to-read. They often feel a little flimsy on first reading, and that was the case here. My appreciation for this book, however, increased when used as a companion to the mini-series it inspired. The show gives us the characters' attitudes and emotions where Ambrose rather glosses over them. And the text helps to fill in details of the battles and strategies, which are always hard to follow on screen. Ambrose's excellent decision to quote liberally from David Webster's journals help lift the otherwise conventional chronology into a more philosophical realm. They're good enough for Webster's estate to have published them after the success of the HBO series. While I'm curious to see how an entire book of his educated, self-examining holds up, the passages Ambrose uses work very well as counterpoints to the blood n' guts anecdotes provided by the simpler, earthier brothers from his band.
Obvious he was a poet before and after this. The writing is good but draining. 3 pages a night and I was done. Actually, I think I still have 20 pages or so left. One day, maybe.