The Riddleblog

Gettysburg 160

Today marks the final day of the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg—the largest land battle ever fought on the North American continent.

On the afternoon of July 3, 1863, Pickett’s charge—an event many contend was the turning point in the Civil War—got underway only to be smashed by Union defenders on Cemetery Ridge. Pickett’s failed assault wrapped up three days of fierce fighting in brutal Pennsylvania heat. The day after Pickett’s charge, the exhausted, depleted, and demoralized Confederate army packed up, headed south, and crossed the Potomac River back into Virginia. The war would last nearly two more years, but for all intents and purposes, the South could never recover and would not invade the North again.

Allen Guezlo’s book on the Gettysburg campaign and battle is a wonderfully written volume, and must reading for anyone interested the Civil War or curious about this battle. I highly recommend it.

This is from my review, which you can read in its entirely here: A Review of Allen Guelzo's Gettysburg

If you've read Michael Shaara's Killer Angels or have seen the glue-on beard marred epic movie "Gettysburg" (which actually isn't that bad, except for Martin Sheen's horrible portrayal of Robert E. Lee as some sort of Eastern mystic), then you probably believe that the South's failure to capture Little Round Top toward the end of the second day’s fighting (July 2) was the turning point of the three-day battle. Not true.

To read my review and/or order Guelzo’s book, follow the link below

Book Reviews, History and CultureKim RiddlebargerJuly 3, 2023 Comments

A Few of My Favorite Books on World War One

World War One is not on the radar of many Americans. In many ways the Great War ends the cultural optimism and colonialism of the nineteenth century. American emerges as a true super-power. The Great War marks the dawn of the modern age. If I have piqued your interest, here are a few suggested titles readers of the Riddleblog may enjoy. All but one of my choices deal with geopolitical consequences of the war, not with battles, tactics, or weaponry. That list of recommendations might come later. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments section.

To read my recommendations, follow the link below

Review of Tim Bouverie's "Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War"

Tim Bouverie: Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War (London: Vintage, 2019) 497 pgs.

I know, it sounds cliche. If you look in a dictionary under “appeasement” you will likely find mention or a picture of Neville Chamberlain—possibly both. Yet, as Tim Bouverie contends in his recent book, Appeasing Hitler, there is far more than “appeasement” to the story of Neville Chamberlain’s diplomatic efforts as English Prime Minister in the eighteen months or so before World War Two. The disaster which everyone feared was coming, yet could do nothing to stop, was at hand. Chamberlain tried and failed to prevent it from happening. Postwar history has not been kind to him. His name is synonymous with political appeasement and naivete.

A political journalist now writing in the field of history, in Appeasing Hitler, Tim Bouverie covers the period from Hitler’s rise to power in Germany (January 1933) until England’s declaration of war on Germany (September 1939). Bouverie recounts the behind the scenes diplomatic efforts made by the British government to prevent the Second World War. If you’ve watched any of the recent Churchill movies (i.e., The Darkest Hour, which, for the most part, is outstanding) and wondered about the tensions between Neville Chamberlain (the current PM), Lord Halifax (the king’s personal friend and the likely P.M. after Chamberlain), and Churchill (the loudest voice opposed to Hitler, but discredited in the eyes of his contemporaries due to his role in the Gallipoli debacle of 1915), Bouverie gives the backstory to the distrust (if not dislike) between Chamberlain, Halifax, and Churchill. Appeasing Hitler is well-written and cogently argued. Bouverie captures quite well the sense of futility on the part of the British government which went with trying to change the mind of a megalomaniac (Hitler) with nothing available to them to stop him but Chamberlain’s best of intentions.

To read the rest of the review, Tim Bouverie: Appeasing Hitler

A Review of Allen Guelzo's Biography of R. E. Lee

Allen C. Guelzo. Robert E. Lee: A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. Pg 588. $ 35.00

In August of 2017, white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the impending removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park. The statue was placed in the park in 1924, during the high water mark of white supremacy and Lost Cause sympathies. But the riots in Charlottesville reveal that the public image of R. E. Lee remains controversial. On the one hand, Lee is seen by many as a heroic figure and military genius who staved off northern aggression against impossible odds in a audacious defense of States Rights and Southern heritage. Yet, on the other, Lee is seen as a defender of slavery, a symbol of white privilege and racism, a man whose legacy has become a glaring offense to progressive sensitivities. Although there are a number of capable biographies of General Lee already in print (Emory Thomas’ 1995 volume, Robert E. Lee: A Biography stands out), it is time for a thorough re-assessment of R. L. Lee and his legacy. Allen C. Guelzo is the ideal historian to write such a volume.

Guelzo is an award-winning Civil War era historian, who previously taught at Gettysburg College. Currently, Dr. Guelzo is Senior Research Scholar in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He is a three time Lincoln Prize recipient, and in 2013 was awarded the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize for Military History for his 2013 book, Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, in which Robert E. Lee plays a major role. Guelzo is uniquely suited to take a fresh look at a man who is far more complicated than his hagiographers (i.e., Douglas Southall Freeman’s four volume, R. E. Lee) or his critics (Thomas L. Connelly’s 1977, The Marble Man), have indicated.

To read the rest, click here: A Review of Guelzo's Robert E. Lee: A Life

Kevin DeYoung Interviews Allen Guelzo

Kevin DeYoung interviews Allen Guelzo regarding his new book on Robert E. Lee. Outstanding! DeYoung asks great questions, and Guelzo gives great answers. Well-worth your time.

To Listen, follow the link below.

History and Culture, Book ReviewsKim RiddlebargerOctober 9, 2021Allen Guelzo, Robert E. Lee, Kevin DeYoungComment