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

When your friends cannot understand how reading a history book could possibly be interesting, this is what you give them.

When your friends cannot understand how reading a history book could possibly be interesting, this is what you give them. Don't even let them complain that it's about war. Marvelously written as if it was a riveting novel, The Training Ground gives a count-by-count rehash of the battles of the Mexican-American war along with excellent insights into the main "characters". Dougard uses short chapters to keep the book moving while sparing no detail in the glory and the greusomeness of war- even the descriptions of operations on injured soldiers are captivating. Yes, as a read, it's that good.

For those acquainted with the Civil War, it's even better- personal stories of Grant, Davis, Longstreet, Lee, and more peak the curiosity as they were all fighting for and with each other, proving themselves to themselves and others, totally unknowing of what was to come fifteen years later. Anyone who likes the Civil War must read this because that conflict is totally and completely unimaginable had the leaders and soldiers not experienced the Mexican "training ground". What a different country this would be today; all of these men were in a "military lull" that they expected to never end, but this war prepared them for the fight of a lifetime in the future.

[A note I must mention- this book was not about Lincoln, but two things as printed were incorrect. 1) He was elected President in 1860, not 1859; 2) He lived in Indiana between his youth in Kentucky and adulthood in Illinois, as opposed to moving straight from KY to IL. I don't know how these things were not corrected before publishing, but they do not take away anything.]

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