I was really disappointed in the authors missed opportunity to provide history with a accurate record of this persons part in the Civil War. The book has very little structure and gets worse as it progresses. Before I read it I considered Stanley as one of the top notch leaders but now feel he may have been one of the minor actors. Since, he couldn't do a good job of relating his actual experences in the war. How could he have been a top notch general? I found out later that he was involved in a court-martial against Hazen and it appears that it back-fired on him and he made some enemies because of his attempts to make Hazen look bad. He speaks poorly of several generals in his book that he considered turned against him at the court-martial. ( )

General Stanley starts his book with a fascinating story about life in Ohio in the early days of settlement by Europeans. However, his narrative turns sour and angry when he gets to the war years. He is hyper-critical of other Northern officers, especially Sheridan and Schofield, (about General Jacob Cox, who happens to be one of my very favorite C.W. generals, Stanley says "I can't stand him," and he comes across sounding petty and jealous. I've given it three stars because of the story of the conditions dealt with by early settlers. That part was, in my opinion, outstanding. ( )