Completely agree, the Coddington is book is excellent!The Gettysburg Campaign by Coddington. I think if you only have one book on the subject it's the one to have.
The award came from the same college where he taught at the time. Connect the dots....I read Guelzo's book when it came out and was stunned at the positive reception . His treatment of Meade was terrible and not worthy of a true historian's work . It also won an award ! Soon after it came out I made a trip to Gettysburg and asked a ranger about his opinion of it after he had given a fine presentation at the Peach Orchard . The ranger had had Guelzo as an advisor while in college and had the same opinion as me about the book . When I asked him how Guelzo could have won an award for such a book , he replied that there was a lot of politics involved in academia . I will not name the ranger because he has become well known and I wouldn't feel right about sharing a private conversation .
Kind of funny. I wrote a paper for Guelzo once that fully praised Meade's leadership at Gettysburg. Think he graded it generously, but did tell me my sourcing was one-sided.Guelzo's Gettysburg: The Last Invasion. This book makes allegations against Meade that are not supported by any credible evidence and is terribly slanted and unfair. Avoid at all costs.
Kinda how the college history experience goes: the professors have written books, you buy their books to be in their class, they given you their opinions from their book, you filled a blue book with their opinions for exams...boom, you got an A. If you disagreed, look out.Kind of funny. I wrote a paper for Guelzo once that fully praised Meade's leadership at Gettysburg. Think he graded it generously, but did tell me my sourcing was one-sided.