The Battle of Pea Ridge: The Civil War Fight for the Ozarks (Civil War Series)

James Knight has written a well documented history of Missouri and Arkansas through the first year of the Civil War.The differences of Van Doren and Curtis could not be more pronounced and their subordinates explain why the Confederates lost.

Overall useful and informative--I needed to read it for a training course. The first half of the book sets the stage, but it does get a big dry and hard to follow. If you are in a pinch for time, skip forward to the second half and then go back as needed to the first. Also, I recommend starting by reading the description of the players in the back, because it gives them more character. At the training course, the instructors were able to give a lot more color and life to the people from the battle, which was not captured in the book. In the end, it's a great story of where hubris and poor planning can get you.Spoiler alert (haha):The rebels/Confederates are in a tremendously advantageous position, but they bungle it due to poor leadership and logistics, and the federals (Union) prevail in the end by employing better planning, leadership, and using the specific talents of their team for maximum effect. It's a great parable for leadership, but can be a bit of a chore to read.

This book is a very good and solid account of the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. There were several things about this book that were pleasing. 1. The author gets right to the main story - the campaign and battle. Unlike some other books in this series, he doesn't spend half of the book giving a history of the world from Adam and Eve up to the time of the battle, nor does he spend any time on post-war reunions and preservation efforts (not that preservation is a bad thing, but I want a book about a battle to tell about the battle itself). 2. The narrative of the events is given in a very orderly and easy to follow format. The writing style makes for easy reading as well. 3. The maps are some of the best I have ever seen for a book on a battle. They show nice detail of the topography and the troops movements. There are also many maps which greatly helps with understanding the course of events. My only quibble with this book is that it does not have a proper bibliography. In order to know what sources the author used, you must read the endnotes.I very much enjoyed reading this account of the battle and found it very informative. The author has made a very solid contribution to the information availiable on the war in the trans-mississippi theatre.

Well written, excellent overview of of the campaign. Interesting old photos of Elkhorn Tavern, and other related sites . A concise little book that just gives the basic details but some very important notes about the generals involved-such as Earl Van Dorn-which made this just what I wanted to learn about. I wish that the maps were in color as everything printed in this is black & white. I see that this is the format for these Sesquicential Series handbooks on the Civil War in order to keep the price at $20. each. I've been very pleased with the ones that I've purchased.

Awesome study of a complex battle. The book is short but gives lots of info.

This is not a well know battle of the war. It did show that both side had a lot of learning to do.

This was a good book about the battle of Pea Ridge. It included the history of the civil war in this theater leading up to the battle and had good maps showing the locations of what was happening.

good read book was better than rated condition

Though I rate this book at only four stars, I actually think quite highly of it!The authorative book on the subject is a 430-odd page volume by Earl J. Hess and William L. Shea entitled "Pea Ridge,Civil War campaign in the West". Well written,this classic is by no means bested,or replaced by Knights 150 page offering.However in the book under review, Knight has penned a very concise account of the battle,hardly a word is wasted and a full description of the events come from the pages. Two separate actions,Leetown and Elkhorn Tavern are clearly explained in just enough detail to let the reader follow a very complicated sequence of events.I have particular praise for one aspect of the presentation of this book.This writer has prepared some simple,clear maps of the action,he has included them on the opposite page to the description of the events in the text.A simple thing which other military authors should copy!This history stands by itself with no trouble. I am more than happy to shelve it alongside the Hess book as a very competent alternative telling of events.