"Adkin's Gettysburg Companion Has Arrived" Topic

First impression….its going to be a good book to own if you are interested in Gettysburg.
Now i will reading this and Earl Hess' book on the Rifle Musket in the Civil War simultaneously.

His Waterloo Companion was brilliant, looks like I'll have to shell out for this one as well.

I got the Waterloo book on the advice from this Board and was mightily impressed. I am looking forward to the Gettysburg book.

the Gettysburg is equal to the Waterloo book…thing weighs in at 6 pounds on the scale…if that were a steak you'd bust a gut digesting it in one sitting.

But i am very impressed to date. I have around 100 books on Gettysburg already, and while each one has its own value and something to offer the reader, this one truly is of an encyclopedic nature on the battle…everything including background [the prologue starts with Chancellorsville].

I am focusing on the artillery section to start, my particular interest….but the production values, charts, diagrams, maps etc are fantastic.

I'm looking forward to reading this book. If it is anything like his Waterloo book, it should be a good reference book worth having.

I wonder what the Over/Under Vegas line is on the number of days it takes before someone calls the new Adkins book either:

rubbish
not fit for a doorstop
complete waste of money
etc

At least that was some of the snarky commentary on his Waterloo book (which I thought was pretty good, but then, I'm no expert on Napoleonics).

Available and in stock from OMM (via the web or in the shop):

Item: 1-89550
Adkin, Mark GETTYSBURG COMPANION 11.5x9.5, (by the author of THE WATERLOO COMPANION) covers every aspect of the battle. 100's of color & b/w photos/maps/ charts /uniforms, biblio, index.1 vol, 544 pgs 2008 US, STACKPOLE BOOKS NEW-dj $70.00 USD

Dennis from OMM
onmilitarymatters.com

I noticed that J D Petruzzi, co-author of some Gettysburg books and magazine aricles, is already raising some serious questions about it. See his review on amazon. FYI.

Wow, looks like the **** is hitting the fan, judging by the Petruzzi review on Amazon and its related comments.

I own Adkins' Waterloo and Trafalgar books, and I love them. And his Gettysburg book is winging its way to me as I speak.

Although I like the pageantry of history, I am no historian, and generally find books written for historians deadly dull. So I'm always pleased when a book about a historical event comes out that has the non-historian in mind (ie it is not scholarly and doesn't necessarily feel the need to turn up new information, but uses excellent writing ability and presentation to retell a story we've heard before).

To me, Waterloo and Trafalgar were just that, books about history that could appeal to non-historians like me. So the lack of a decent bibliography or sources is not of particular worry to me.

However, if what Petruzzi says about the map is true (bearing in mind, of course, that we've only heard one side of the story so far), then even from a non-historian's point of view, that is a matter of concern.

It will be intriguing to see where this all leads …

As an update to the point about alleged plagiarism, Adkins and his representatives have strongly rebutted the claims with supporting evidence. Also, Petruzzi began to contradict himself.

Specifically, the points about the map turned out to be bunkum.

I'm enjoying the book so far – it is my first on this battle specifically.

I agree with you, Midpoint … the map sounds as though it is actually quite different, and certainly wasn't a scan as Petruzzi first claimed.

As mentioned when I wrote my post above, we had only heard one side at that point.

I' still eagerly awaiting my copy, which is winging its way over here at the moment. With the postage of such a heavy book, and the current exchange rate, it has turned into quite an expensive purchase, but knowing how happy I've been with Adkin's two other books, I'm sure it'll be worth it!

If you'd like to read a short book review, see the table of contents, and read an excerpt from Battle of Little Round Top, go to the OMM home page (www.onmilitarymatters.com) and click on the link on the left: "Featured Books-Reviews, Excerpts and Contents" and scroll down to Gettysbug Companion.

Dennis from OMM
onmilitarymatters.com

AMAZON is showing it as low as $44.07 USD

link

At Amazon I noted two different subtitles for this book by the same author with the same publishing date and dust jackets, but the prices are not and the publishers are different. One book is entitled The Gettysburg Companion: A Guide To the Most Famous Battle of the Civil War and the other one is entitled The Gettysburg Companion: A Complete Guide to the Decisive Battle of the American Civil War. They are both hardbacks. What is the differenvce in these books? If the release dates were different I would not think much of it with a change in the publisher.

I have to agree with rmcaras on this book. I was skeptical about this before I bought it. I have 17 gazillion books on Gettysburg but this one is pretty good and worth having. Lots of neat stuff all in one book. I have never seen any of the other similar ones (Waterloo and Trafalgar) and I don't plan on buying them. Not my interest. I have not really poured over it since I gave it the 'once over' though.

If there is one thing that is kinda a down side it is the fact that the book can not be carried with you on the train to read going to work or sneek it into your desk to read when no one is looking. The book is huge and heavy. It's even awkward to read while sitting up in bed. You need to lay it down on a table to read otherwise you might bust the spine. All this means is that the book is chock full of stuff so… that's not a complete problem because more is better.

I'd give it a thumbs up. Now… where do I put it?

It's a beautiful book and lavishly illustrated. However, I just picked up a copy at Fall In and am frankly a bit concerned. Just flipping through it I saw some monuments and regiments mis-identified (switching NY for PA for example) and a blurb on Hooker that had the math of certain time lines messed up.

I'm still looking forward to reading it but will be double checking some of the details. Be curious what the other ACW geeks on TMP think.

Got mine several weeks ago. Have read it all, some parts multiple times. Beautifully presented. His narrative is often very weak and at other times absolutely and positively dead wrong.

That's a shame Maui Jim. Is it a matter of typos (83rd PA instead of mis-calling them the 83rd NY) or are there more substative errors?

I got the book because I already have the Waterloo and Trafalgar books, the former is by far the best of the bunch, but then I am not a Napoleonic expert.

I have only just started to delve into it but two complete clangers are his claim that 13,000 blacks served as combatants for the Confederacy and that Hood's Texas brigade contained a large amount of Hispanics.

I suspect as a guide to American Civil War armies in the mid stages of the war it is pretty good and contains pages on pages of interesting facts and figures along with lovely graphics, and it is perfect for dipping into when you can spare an odd half hour or so.

The book does exactly what it says on the tin, it is a Companion and not a definative account of the battle and should be enjoyed as such.

Milhouse,

Gezzz, there are so many howlers…like Adkin stating that Lee never went to the south end of the field prior to the attack on July 2, but instead just remained slacking back at his HQ. Lol! It goes on and on. Like I said, one has to enjoy the book for its presentation, but certainly not for its text.

MJ

That's a shame MJ. Never judge a book by it's cover!

The photos are great but even there, I don't trust the captions.

Conversely, amd currently half way through "Those Damned Balck Hats" and enjoying it thoroughly.

I think that if you are going to put down a book with criticism, it would be more helpful to recite the specific instances of the errors that you have found. Simply saying that it is full of howlers is not very helpful to anyone else who is considering purchasing the book.

Every book has some typos in it, so I don't consider that, by itself, a reason not to buy any book.

I am not familiar with Mr. Petruzzi, but the fact that he also has a Gettysburg book would make me take his comments with a grain of salt. Perhaps he has his own agenda (we don't know), perhaps he doesn't like Mr Adkins for some reason, or maybe he does have a legitimate beef. Again, just because someone has "accused" Mr. Adkins does not mean that the acccusation is just and true. I am just saying that we all need to look at both sides before we start acting like our Napoleonic Boards counterparts.

My general impression of the book is that it is what it intends to be: a companion book to one's general collection of books on the topic. I view it as an encyclopedia – you start with a book such as Adkins to get a general undestanding of the battle. Then you drill deeper by reading more and more accounts of the battle.

The best books about Gettysburg are those written by Harry Pfanz. Even the battlefield tour guides carry copies of Pfanz with them on their tours. That should tell you something.