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- Aug 16, 2015
With the holidays upon us, I am considering buying a friend and history buff a biography of Dan Sickles. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Thanks for your help!
Thanks for your help!
Yes: Sickles at Gettysburg By Jim Hessler is hands down the best treatment of "Dirty Dan" Sickles. @War Horse & @Eric Wittenberg would probably agree The book covers Sickles' life from a young man to old age.
It's a great book, no doubt. But it's also not a biography in the conventional sense. It provides a lot of biographical details on Dirty Dan's life, but it's not a biography. It provides those details in order to put Dirty Dan's role at Gettysburg--both during the battle and also post-war--in their proper historical context.
If you want a true biography, Thomas Kinnealy's American Scoundrel is probably the best. However, Kinnealy is an Aussie and is not a Civil War guy. He gets details wrong, and he is not knowledgeable about the Civil War. But it's a very good study of Dirty Dan's political life and worth reading as such.
Thanks for your response and the URL.Yes: Sickles at Gettysburg By Jim Hessler is hands down the best treatment of "Dirty Dan" Sickles. @War Horse & @Eric Wittenberg have read it too The book covers Sickles' life from a young man to old age.
Here is a review of the book (note my comments below)
https://studycivilwar.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/sickles-at-gettysburg/
Thanks for your response.It's a great book, no doubt. But it's also not a biography in the conventional sense. It provides a lot of biographical details on Dirty Dan's life, but it's not a biography. It provides those details in order to put Dirty Dan's role at Gettysburg--both during the battle and also post-war--in their proper historical context.
If you want a true biography, Thomas Kinnealy's American Scoundrel is probably the best. However, Kinnealy is an Aussie and is not a Civil War guy. He gets details wrong, and he is not knowledgeable about the Civil War. But it's a very good study of Dirty Dan's political life and worth reading as such.
Thanks for your response.
My friend- who is more a fan of general American history- will probably appreciate Kinnealy. As I just mentioned, I may have to buy Hessler for myself....
Thomas is an Aussie though! Also I have read another of his books and some of his facts were wrong. A pity really because he is/was a good writer. He even has a "Lincoln" beard.will probably appreciate Kinnealy
There is so much biographical information in Hessler's book that I actually forgot that it was not written as a biography
Thanks for your response.Thomas is an Aussie though! Also I have read another of his books and some of his facts were wrong. A pity really because he is/was a good writer. He even has a "Lincoln" beard.
Side note .... when Ken Burn's epic was first shown in Australia, Thomas Kenneally did a one or two minute introduction at the start of each episode, setting the scene. I still have these on tape.
Bee. A very good recommendation. A very good read. Well written and well researched. David.Yes: Sickles at Gettysburg By Jim Hessler is hands down enjoyable treatment of "Dirty Dan" Sickles. @War Horse & @Eric Wittenberg have read it too The book covers Sickles' life from a young man to old age,
EDIT: as Etc mentions below, it is not a biography in the classic sense.
Here is a review of the book (note my comments below)
https://studycivilwar.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/sickles-at-gettysburg/
Thanks for your response.
My friend- who is more a fan of general American history- will probably appreciate Kinnealy. As I just mentioned, I may have to buy Hessler for myself....
Although it is an older book, I enjoyed Sickles the Incredible .