GDG- Off topic - "To the North Anna River - Grant and Lee May 13-25, 1864" by Gordon C. Rhea

[Alan D. Brunelle]

I read this book over the holiday - had an emergency trip to Florida, 
and had a lot of time in airports/airplane...

It's a fascinating book - part of a series written by Mr. Rhea:

"The Battle of the Wilderness - May 5-6, 1864"
"The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, 
May 7-12, 1864"
"To the North Anna River - Grant and Lee May 13-25, 1864"

and

"Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864"

Mr. Rhea is an engaging writer, and the details provided seem pretty 
impressive - despite the fact that he noted in the book the 
incompleteness of available material to comb through (due to the large 
amounts of casualties throughout the campaign coupled with the fact that 
the writers tended to be so exhausted that accounts tend to be quite 
contradictory in nature, whether written on the spot or dozens of years 
later). The complexity of this part of the campaign is laid out quite 
well, and Mr Rhea certainly digs down and provides some excellent 
commentary on the intellectual sparring between Grant and Lee as much as 
the physical sparring between their armies.

The only (typical) negative would be the lack of good maps - perhaps 
this may be due to the large physical area being covered in addition to 
the usual costs (map makers & page space).

In conclusion, it was an excellent read - and certainly opened my eyes 
to the "dark days" between Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor. 
When I get the chance, I'll certainly be reading the other 3 books in 
the series...

Alan