Joshua Chamberlain: The Solider and the Man

By Edward G. Longacre

Book Overview

Joshua Chamberlain became the "hero of Gettysburg" when he and his regiment, the 20th Maine, bravely held Little Round Top against a determined Rebel assault. Chamberlain's reputation as a celebrated soldier continued to grow in the decades that followed the war. Yet, Joshua Chamberlain, the soldier, is only part of the story of his remarkable life.Edward G. Longacre's biography of Joshua Chamberlain is the first biography to examine the entire life and career of this complicated man. The author skillfully investigates and analyzes all aspects of his life and character-before and after the Civil War. And Longacre re-examines Chamberlain's extraordinary military career as a Union officer, drawing on independent-and occasionally contradictory-eyewitness accounts of his battlefield actions. Longacre's meticulous research also suggests that Chamberlain's own account of his military actions can no longer be taken entirely at face value.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306813122
• ISBN13: 9780306813122
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Ameerican Hero

This book was purchased for a class which will start in a few weeks. However, just reading it, I find it not only interesting, but written so as to appeal to anyone, not just a history buff. Good book.

Full of interesting material

Being a Civil War fanatic and scholar I had a tremendous interest in Joshua L. Chamberlain, and most of that interest is from the Killer Angels and the movie Gettysburg. I took this book from the perspective that I knew nothing of Chamberlain. I found Edward Longacre's biography well written and well researched even if his main source of material was Spears memoirs. Longacre dispels many myths of Chamberlain and presents facts to show perhaps a different perspective of the man's career. Sure, Longacre agrees that Chamberlain was a terrific and courageous soldier, arguably one of the best in the union army. But he also understands that JLC had his flaws and can be criticized for being selfish at times. I think the average reader plants the image of Chamberlain from "Gettysburg" or Killer Angels in their brain as they read the book, and that is whythe reviews are mostly poor ones. We must remember that anything Chamberlain wrote after 1865 about the War should be taken for some inaccuracies. Longacre is right that Chamberlain is a romanticizer and prefers the good story over the correct one. I assume Longacre made some mistakes and for that I took a star away but I truly enjoyed this book because it didn't portray Chamberlain as a godly hero but rather as an incredible human being.

Why another Chamberlain book?

Why? Because I think this is the first to avoid Trulock's hero worship of the man. I can't think of a greater American than Chamberlain, but can he be as perfect as some have shown us? After reading this book I think Longacre achieved his goal: to show us a great man who had human shortcomings. This is a real contribution to our understanding of the soldier and the man.

A balanced view of Chamberlain

This book does what no Chamberlain biography has done to date: present the man in his full complexity -- both heroic qualities and human failings. Very well written as all Longacre books are.

Joshua L. Chamberlin: Forever a Hero, Finally a Man

I found this book on my favorite hero of the War Between the States, totally refreshing and very interesting. Opinions and conclusions presented by the author are well supported. These will be received well by those who wish to know more about this very complex and beloved human being. Less by those who seek only hero worship. An Excellent Read!