Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War - Softcover

Winston Groom is the author of eleven books, including Forrest Gump, Better Times Than These, As Summers Die, and the prize-winning Civil War history Shrouds of Glory. He served in the Vietnam War as a lieutenant with the Fourth Infantry Division. His non-fiction book, Conversations With the Enemy was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Groom is the author of Forrest Gump, which was originally published in 1986 and then recently zoomed up the best-seller lists in the wake of the movie version's great success. In light of that circumstance, many people are going to be seeking his latest work. But--caveat emptor--not all who enjoyed that movie will enjoy this book. It will appeal to a select group: those who are avid readers of military history. Groom spent four years in research, prompted by personal interest: his great-grandfather's engagement as a soldier in the episode he chronicles here, the Confederacy's "last great offensive." The months between the Battle of Atlanta in July 1864 and the Battle of Nashville in December of that year were witness to the South's final attempt to throw off inexorable strangulation by the North. (This unsuccessful campaign was followed by the Union's coup de gr{ƒ}ace, delivered by Grant shortly afterward in Virginia.) There's lots of battlefield maneuvering of this unit and that brigade, a level of detail that definitely calls for keen readership interest, but the you-are-there atmosphere is faultless. Although some Forrest Gump fans might be disappointed, ardent history buffs most certainly won't be. Brad Hooper