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Colonel J. F. C. Fuller is a stimulating writer on military and other topics, but he is not seen at his best in The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant (Murray, 21s.). He appears unduly conscious that Grant's reputation as a master of war has been gravely questioned of late years, largely because the murderous battles of the Wilderness in 1864 resemble too closely the warfare of attrition on the Somme and in the Salient. Colonel Fuller, therefore, instead of being content to narrate, is all too anxious to defend and apologize ; and it cannot be said that the defence or the apology is wholly satisfying. Grant doubtless had to " fix " Lee in Northern Virginia so as to prevent him from reinforcing the Con- federate armies further south, who were hard pressed by Sherman and Thomas. But the fixing " need not have been so costly in life, in view of the immense superiority of the Northern forces. The earlier campaigns of Grant, on the other hand, are well and fairly depicted, and the influence of politics on Grant's strategy is clearly shown. Colonel Fuller remarks that Grant was hampered by imperfect maps. The reader, confronted with Colonel Fuller's own apologies for maps, will sympathize heartily with Grant.
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