Robert Underwood Johnson (1853–1937)

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1923, Frist Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. Green cloth boards with front gilt inscribed name of author, xxi, 624pp. Frontispiece engraving of Robert Johnson, 34 B/W photographs & illustrations.

This is the autobiography of the American poet, author, editor & diplomat Robert Underwood Johnson (1853-1937). Johnson was editor of The Century Magazine for 40 years and associated with Scribner’s Monthly, He was an early advocate of international copyright law (for which he was honored by the French & Italian Governments), prompted Ulysses S. Grant to write his memoirs, helped establish the Keats Museum in Rome and became US Ambassador to Italy. Insights are penned on the Civil War, Gen. Grant's last days & his memoir work, which the author helped edit. Friendships with Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, John Muir, John Burroughs & other notables are portrayed. Among his many achievements, he was a dear compatriot of John Muir & together were key in establishing Yosemite as a National Park, his most enduring accomplishment, & became a vital forest conservation champion thru Muir's profound insight, as well described.… (más)

My favorite articles so far :
the Lew Wallace piece on Ft Donelson. Excellent details on the tactical situation during the battle. He really knows how to turn a phrase.

Col Snead paper on the first year of the war in Missouri. He is quite the clever writer, and seems to have good insight into the on the ground situation. I was pleasantly surprised. Lots of wisdom about major players at the time.

Article by BG Imboden was very informative regarding artillery. esp sizes of guns and results of firing.

Read the article by Albert Sidney Johnson's son, found it very biased but gave some good insight into the battle of Shiloh.… (más)

The Chronology gets much more scattered in this volume, that also contains a useful index for all four volumes. By now we see this book as a classic of military publication, a very democratic exercise as every famous general got to speak their piece, sometimes creating exercises in politicking and revisionism. Therefore it is an artifact in itself rather than a book of analysis. But a very interesting series to analyse as parts of it are still open to lively debate to this day. Read but keep your antennae out, as there are many traps to fall into.… (más)