Competent academic prose carries a sociological study of the West Point graduates and their services to the governments they served during the Civil War. The readers get an idea of what the Point's syllabus actually taught during the period, and the proportion of the graduates among the total officer corps of the two armies. He tries to isolate the degree to which these men influenced their armies, and the benefits derived from their employment as soldiers. He believes after looking at the evidence that the CSA was better served by the initial influxes of West pointers, and that the effectiveness of their input declined as combat losses and deaths by illness wore down their numbers. The North had fewer of the brilliant boys but more of the plodders, yet as the war went on, they made their presence felt in gradually raising the level of USA competence. He tries to isolate his perceived contributions from the general advantages of equipment and supplies the North enjoyed. A useful but not startling book. ( )