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Title details for The Training Ground by Martin Dugard - Available

The Training Ground

Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848

by Martin Dugard
Robertson Dean
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available

Nearly all of the Civil War’s greatest soldiers—Grant, Lee, Sherman, Davis, and Jackson—were forged in the heat of the Mexican War. This is their story.

The Mexican War has faded from our national memory, but it was a struggle of enormous significance. It was the first U.S. war waged on foreign soil, and it nearly doubled the size of our nation. At this fascinating juncture of American history, a group of young men came together to fight as friends, only years later to fight as enemies. Full of dramatic battles, daring rescues, secret missions, soaring triumphs, and tragic losses, The Training Ground is history at its finest.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 14, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781483057224
      • File size: 339374 KB
      • Duration: 11:47:01

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Text Difficulty: 9-12

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The Mexican-American War not only preceded the Civil War, but trained many of the officers who fought in it. The author chronicles the environment, the men, and the battles to win the American Southwest. It is prescient to see how Robert E. Lee's contributions and experiences in Mexico refined his later brilliance as a Confederate general. The story adapts well to audio; the narrator, Robertson Dean, makes it enjoyable and easy to understand with his deep voice and articulate diction. His skillful treatment of the little asides and details, such as the battle with the sand fleas at Veracruz, adds to the impact for the listener. Although Dean's Spanish sounds very "American," the small fluffs don't distract from the excellent narration. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 17, 2008
      Dugard (The Last Voyage of Columbus
      ) offers a fast-paced, colloquially written account of the Mexican War of 1848, constructed around the experiences of the U.S. Army’s corps of junior officers. Shaped by the common experience of West Point and tempered by battle, these comrades in arms (including Lee, Grant, Davis and Sherman) matured into the leading generals and statesmen on both sides of the Civil War. Dugard introduces others as well, from Union artilleryman Henry Hunt to Confederate icon Stonewall Jackson, who also learned their craft fighting the Mexicans. At the war’s end, commanding general Winfield Scott saluted West Point’s graduates as the key to America’s victory over Mexico. The image of a band of brothers transformed into enemies by conscience and politics is a familiar trope of the Civil War, but Dugard’s spirited narrative animates a group of men whose force of character, professional skill and ability to think outside conventional limits revitalized the sclerotic army. Readers will conclude this book with reinforced awareness of why the Civil War was so long and so bitterly fought: because, as Dugard shows, the contending armies were shaped and led by a remarkably capable—and experienced—body of officers.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Text Difficulty:9-12

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