Thomas Connelly still the go to source for the Army of Tennessee?

51st Georgia

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May 31, 2011
Location
Miami FL
Hi,
Whats the consensus? I wanted to read more about the Army of Tennessee and I remember Tom Connelly being the go to source for an overview in Army of the Heartland and Autumn of Glory. Those books are pretty old but still well regarded. I see Larry Daniel has published Conquered: Why the AOT failed as a one volume overview. Should I check out Daniel as a primer on the AOT or should hunt down the Connelly books? I would MUCH prefer a Kindle version due to my situation but the Connelly books aren't available in that format
 
Connelly, because of his research, Autumn of Glory is the corner stone. It was written at a time when Lost Cause tropes were the only thing most people "knew" about the Civil War. Today, it is hard to imagine what a bombshell its publication was. What made it especially maddening is the meticulous research & reference to original documents that footnote many pages. The references that Connelly had to donate so many miles & weeks of time to accessing, are now available on the internet. Don't take Connelly's word for it, read the original documents for yourself.

Once you have read Connelly, then you can start filling in the jigsaw puzzle with pieces like David Powell's new The Impulse of Victory, Ulysses S. Grant at Chattanooga & Powell & Wittenberg's Tullahoma, The Forgotten Campaign That Changed the Course of the Civil War, June 23-July 24, 1863. That is a combination that will give you a full understanding of campaigns that made winning the war possible.
 
I've heard a lot of good things about Daniel's Conquered. I'm putting it on my wish list for Christmas.

 
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