untry’s fight and eventual attainment of independence. The war was something of a classic David and Goliath story, where the underdog that everybody roots for comes from behind and beats the big, bad enemy that was treating America unfairly. Unfortunately, Keegan chose not to capitalize on the factor of entertainment. It is doubtful, however, that many of the people who choose to read Fields of Battle are looking for this type of entertainment. They will not be disappointed. Redeeming himself from the last chapter, “Fortifying the Confederacy” is a much superior chapter than “The Fort at Yorktown.” Yes this chapter does not really give a lead in to the reason for the Civil War, but it does not need to. Any American who is going to read a book such as this, is guaranteed to already know. Anyway, it was funny to read how the Union pretty much had the Civil War sowed up, until they put McClellan in charge of the Peninsular Campaign. At one point, McClellan retreated from an army that was less than one-third of the size of his army, because he thought the Confederate army outnumbered his. One thing that was really funny was when McClellan sent a telegraph to Lincoln, saying that Washington pretty much left him out to dry by not sending him more troops, that it will not be his fault if he is beaten, but all his skill if he wins. This is not a humorous book, but it should not be taken too seriously. “Forts on the Plains” seems to be the chapter that Keegan knew the least about. That is probably because, of all the wars fought on American soil, there is probably the least amount of information available to research about those waged against the Indians. This chapter offers a good buildup of how we came to kick the Indians off of their land. Keegan describes how the United States Government constantly displaced Indians, as Americans expanded their zone of living, until there was no place else to put th...
