Brian Steel Wills

After reading this book I've come to the conclusion that despite having so few of the subject's personal papers they probably wouldn't have told us much more about the man, as he was a very private individual who was always concerned about looking proper as well as actually being proper and assuming that performance would take care of all events; Thomas was certainly in no personal doubt about the sort of man he was. While this concern with propriety and honor is probably what allowed Thomas to get over the doubts about his loyalty during the Civil War I can also see how in modern terms his contemporaries might have found him stubbornly passive-aggressive, as opposed to being a Stoic in the best sense of the word, particularly once the methodical methods of operational combat favored by Union commanders at the start of the war had been transcended by Grant's emphasis on aggressive maneuver and constant awareness that the Union war effort was on the clock. I suppose this is another way of saying that Thomas might had better served himself if he had cultivated his social engineering skills; high command is always a political enterprise. One could also be critical that the author has written as non-controversial a take on Civil War operations as he could, but this is really more a life of a man in the context of his time then an analysis of operations.… (meer)

This is the first book I ever read specifically about NB Forrest. I thought it was well balanced, and clearly described his personal strengths and weaknesses. The book had a rather folksy flavor to it, and I would have liked to see more more perspective in relation to the entire war. There are a number of maps included, but again they are rather general and do not contain the amount of detail I prefer. Even so, maps are good.
The book decribes the life of Forrest from childhood to death, and attempts to explain why he acted as he did. Much is attributed to the Southern concept of honor. I believe the author glossed over the KKK period of Forrest's life, and basically gives it a benign? flavor. Overall it was an excellent read.… (meer)