A. Wilson Greene's Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion: The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign is by all knowledgeable estimations an excellent military study, originally published by Savas Publishing in 2000 and later reissued by Da Capo. Of course, I delayed purchasing a copy, and now prices for these out of print editions are getting a bit too steep. Fortunately, University of Tennessee Press will soon be rescuing people like me with its new reprint
, scheduled for Feb 2008.Alternatively, interested readers who do not wish to read an entire book on the subject may consult Greene's excellent distillation of the book in Blue & Gray Magazine (Vol. XVIII #3). It's a very well done issue and covers some of the same ground.
Speaking of B&G, the current issue, mailed this week, is my most anticipated of recent memory. The Battle of Davis Bridge is one of the few battles I've done original research for [much of this work went into the Corinth campaign wargame I designed with John Tiller, published by HPS Simulations]. Note the picture here of my wife holding the issue. That little devil.
Rats! And here I paid about 80 bucks for a copy on Abebooks.com a couple of months ago. At least I can take some perverse pleasure in seeing that the reprint will still cost $50. Misery loves company - even if the company is a little less miserable.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
Phil LeDuc
You just never know what will get reprinted or when. I had a somewhat similar experience with Gottschalk's Missouri Brigade book.
ReplyDeleteDrew,
ReplyDeleteThis is an approximation of the comment I left last Thursday -- if it eventually shows up, by all means delete one or the other.
Regarding Gottschalk's Missouri Brigade book, a bit of trivia for collectors. The sure-fire indicator that you have the original first edition dust jacket is the typo on the front. They wrote "Forward by Edwin C. Bearss," rather than Foreword. Though now that I think about it, it's possible that error appeared in subsequent printings as well.
And speaking of your wife, she's very attractive. I hope Mr. Roth gave you a free subscription as part of the photo shoot. She looks a little like a girl I dated in college. Same hat, I mean.
David
I was unaware that there was more than one print run. Looks like I missed out. I just checked my copy, and "Foreword" is spelled correctly. It's a stated First Edition, but we all know how unreliable an indicator that can be.
ReplyDeleteDave still hasn't responded to my email inquiring about just how the heck he got that picture...
I had just assumed it had reprinted at some point, but eventually went OP (I remember you reporting that it was "back in print").
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting about your first edition dust jacket. I remember when the book first came out, sitting with Ted Savas in his library in San Jose, one of us asking the other if he could spot the typo.
There's a picture of it on Amazon. Go here, and click on "View Large": http://tinyurl.com/37qgz7
If they didn't reprint the book, they must have reprinted the dust jacket at some point.
David