Wow. Thirty-two hours. Well, it's quite a tome--at nearly 900 pages in the hardback version. And, you know, even though I was lucky to receive the audiobook version via LibraryThing Early Reviewers, I wish I'd received a print book instead. The reason is simply that history--with its names, dates, places, chronologies, geographies (I imagine the print book might include maps), and the like--is difficult to listen to *if* what's being read aloud was written to be read on the page. I tried to listen to this book--which, as far as I can tell, is masterful--while driving, and that just won't work. For me, at least. I'd need to be doing nothing else but listening; but then, why sink 32 hours into this project when I could just read the text myself in less time? So I'm sorry I'm questioning the entire enterprise of the audiobook in this review, since I'm sure audiobooks are valuable to many individuals. I'd love to sit down with a print version of this book, though, since I'm sure I'd process--and retain--much more of the message that way.

Excellent book about the Army of the Potomac. I must admit that I did not anticipate how difficult this would be to listen to. The reading is excellent, but I really needed maps and other supplemental materials to help me understand and visualize what was going on. Pictures of the people involved would have helped, too. I also recommend that you read an overall book about the American Civil War before you read/listen to this. Great book, but I will read it rather than listen to it next time. ( )

This book about the Army of the Potomac’s high command — its own commanders, its corps commanders, division commanders, brigade commanders — is generally excellent. I have only two complaints. One is with the maps. While fairly numerous, they do not show unit positions, making it sometimes difficult to follow the action described in the text. The second is with the balance of the book in terms of time. Five sevenths of the book is devoted to the first half of the war, while only two sevenths is devoted to the second half. Of that second half, incidentally, one takeaway is that Grant frequently undermined his own operations by his own impatience, demanding that operations get under way without allowing sufficient time for preparations. On the other hand, it was well known to the troops in the field that the Confederates could be allowed at most a few hours to occupy their chosen ground before they had dug the most formidable entrenchments. ( )

While I'm giving this book four stars if I could give it three & three-quarters that would be about right, as while there is nothing else quite like it in terms of following the twists and turns of how Union's main field force in Virginia evolved over time, and I'm inclined to trust Sears' judgement on military matters, I'm not so sure in regards to the flying of sparks when political and military matters clashed. To put it another way, while Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and the congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War might not be the most attractive people in the world, it's understandable why at the time there would be chronic distrust of an officer corps dominated by conservative Democrats. To cut to the chase Sears gives fellow historian William Marvel as his first acknowledgment and my impression of Marvel's biography of Stanton was that it was a caricature of the man; and it's not as though I hold any particular brief for Stanton. With that in mind though this work does serve well as a good overview of the war in the east. ( )

The book Lincoln's Lieutenant by Stephen W Sears narrated by George Guidall was an audiobook on CD I received from LibraryThing as an early review. Let me start by stating it can be quite overwhelming to see 26 compact discs in total on one book. On average one should finish listening to the cd's in 32 hours give or take an hour or two, but it took me a little more time due to interruptions. A well-researched and written book I found it very interesting and informative. An interesting fact that surprised me was so much leaking of information to the newspapers. Also, the general‘s writing their dissatisfaction to members of the Congress and Governors about the war. Author Sears gives a fascinating looking at the military campaign of the northern army with President Lincoln making the strategic decisions, while the Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton was doing everything in his power to oppose them. Also, most if not all of the general's were only being appointed because of the people they knew, not by their military experience making for little knowledge on the battlefield. Stephen Sears gives authentically long-lasting historical accuracy of the Civil War struggle, and I would highly recommend for anyone interested in this subject. ( )