Obtain Traveller Assembled By Richard Adams Displayed In Mobi

perfect book for me! I love history Civil war is a favorite Plus I love horses,so Adam's tale about the Civil War Horse of Robert E, Lee is wonderful. Lee's story as told by his favorite horse Traveler, Loved this book! A history lesson from the point of view of the horses that served in the Civil War, This could have been so much better than it was, The South is portrayed as the hero of this story, Huh There were hints that what the horses went through was similar to what slaves went through, but this promising theme was never carried on, Instead, the book focuses on the battles of the Civil War which are incredibly repetitive, The American Civil War as seen through the eyes of Traveller, Lt, Gen. Robert E. Lee's horse. Not as crazy as it sounds: Traveller probably understood the strategic situation better than many enlisted soldiers, I read this wonderful book several years ago, and I'm delighted to have found it again, I loved this book through and through, Richard Adams takes you into a horse's mind in a compelling and heart stirring way sounds corny saying that,

When first contemplating reading Traveller a bit a sheepishness rises as you pull the book off the shelf and you wonder how an author could write a book about a horse for adults.
Aren't horse books for young girls But, let me tell you, this book is powerful and there's depths in it that probably little girls couldn't begin to fathom, The story of the Civil War from the perspective of General Lee's horse, I guess I was hoping this would be a story about a horse with the Civil War stuff used as background, but it was very focused on telling the straightforward story of the Civil War.
It was structured around Lee's battles and campaigning, It is more engaging and literary than reading a history textbook or even a lot of historical war fiction, If you want an account of the Civil War with an interesting, distinctive narrator, this is a good choice, It just isn't another Watership Down, This book was so boring, The horse Traveller did not have much insight into the events surrounding him, so it left me feeling very detached from the story, There was no character development so I didnt care about any of the characters, The entire time Traveller says important stuff is happening but he doesnt really know what it is, So unless youre already a civil war buff, I cant imagine how you can figure out what going on, There are a bunch of battles and shooting but thats about it, This was a very painful read, I had to force myself to finish it, And I wouldnt have if it werent our book club book this month, Isopäinen hevonen muistelee. The War Between the States aka the Civil War as seen through the eyes of Robert E, Lee's horse. A wonderful read. Examines the events of the Civil War through the eyes of General Robert E, Lee's closest companion and devoted horse, Traveller, I must address something I've seen in other reviews on here and elsewhere on the internet, Some people seem confused or even put off that this glorifies the

south, . . How does one explain that water is wet The sky up Two and two make four Traveller was General Robert E, Lee's horse, and the story is told from his point of view, If I read a book called Blondi about WWII seen through the eyes of Hitler's German Shepard, I would expect it to glorify the Nazi cause, If I think that's too much for me to handle, then I'd best not try reading it, This is my advice for anyone thinking about reading this book: if you find the Confederacy offensive to the point that you can't look at the Civil War objectively, then don't read this.


Who'da thunk a Brit could capture the Virginian patois so well in print I could hear Traveller's voice perfectly, and it sounded akin to my own, I was raised in Richmond, though I have rural roots and was always spending time with relatives in the country, so this is a good thing, Well done, Mr. Adams.

I'm afraid Traveller is a couple of oats short of a feedbag, but it's not really his fault, Not all equines can be as smart as Mr, Ed. Some of the other horses who understand battles better than he such as Little Sorrel point this out to him from time to time, He starts his journey looking forward to getting to the War everyone is excited about, This was before Lee bought him, He figures a war must be a heavenly place with lots of good feed to eat, pastures to run though with plenty of good rolling spots, etc, and laments at the end of the book that he never gets to the war though he really lives through the whole thing, and tells the barn cat all about it over the course of a few years after the war is over.
He's convinced that Marse Robert his name for General Lee because that's what his slaves and servants called him won the war and is now commander of the whole country since he's still giving orders to people.
Lee at this point is president of Washington College which would become Washington and Lee University later, As near as I can tell all the facts are presented accurately, but Traveller's point of view provides an amusing twist,

He's still terrified of the blue men his name for the Yankees years later,

sitelink
"What's so scary about us"

I guess that's understandable after you've spent three years getting shot at by them,

He has his own names for most of the generals, It was sometimes hard keeping them straight, but it wasn't bad enough that I had to put down the book, Here are the more prominent ones:

Stonewall Jackson Cap in his Eyes because he often wore his hat low
Longstreet Old Pete an actual nickname
Stuart Jine the Cavalry because he suggested Traveller would be great in the cavalry and ought to join it
A.
P. Hill Red shirt you can probably figure this one out
Pickett Ringlets due to his curly hair

Though he's not as well known as the other confederate generals, my favorite was the nick for General Borcke as VotYouVoz.
Borcke was German and spoke with an accent Traveller couldn't follow,

Traveller describes the battles to Tom the cat over the course of a few years after the war is over, and covers all of the ones Lee was involved in.
However they're not listed by name except occasionally in aside blurbs after the fact, so if you're not familiar with the battles this part would be really hard to follow.
Also if you're not into Civil War battles, I can see how these parts would be repetitive and tedious which is a common complaint I've seen in other reviews.
I'm all about this kind of stuff, though, so I loved it, I found myself getting lost in the battles, so I looked them up as I went along and used sitelinkThe West Point Atlas of War: The Civil War to refresh myself as it's been several years since I've studied the Civil War in detail.
I was confusing Chancellorsville with Wilderness and Spotsylvania which is kind of understandable since they were pretty much fought on the same ground but in different years, I also confused a few details of some other battles, but got it all straight in the end by looking up a couple of things, Still, I'm really impressed with how accurate everything is in this historical fiction,

There are also a lot of amusing bits between his battle yarns, At one point he finds that Tom has fallen asleep, "Well, isn't that just like a cat!" is his response to that, Sometimes he directs the cats in a campaign to get a rat that's hiding somewhere in the barn as if he were a general, He also relates some common jokes from the war: "Come on out of that hat, I know you're in there, I can see your legs hanging down, " He explains this after telling Tom once to "Come on out of that fur, " My favorite line was when he was talking about Joel Sweeney's who may have written the song sitelinkJine the Cavalry with J, E. B. Stuart banjo playing: " he'd sit there and make it go pilly willy pinky winky pop, sometimes for the whole evening, and the fellas'd all get to singing, an' JinetheCavalry'd fill up a big brown jug and laugh and tell Sweeny sic to play some more.
"

This book wasn't all fun and games, though, It definitely exposes the hardships of war for both sides, though mostly for the confederacy since that's what Traveller saw first hand, However he was also there for the Battle of the Crater which was pretty much the Union's "Pickett's Charge" moment and a complete slaughter of blue men, And it wasn't just battles that were hell, Conditions for the South were bleak for the last two years of the war, They couldn't replace anything they used, had no food, boots, clothes, anything, I believe more died from sickness and starvation than from battle wounds by the end of it,

Traveller captures the essence of Lee, He's considered to be a great human being, That's debated since he was a slave owner, though he fits the mold of a benevolent one, He educated his slaves which was illegal, eventually freed them, helped fund the move to Liberia effort, and urged allowing slaves to serve in the Confederate army with manumission being a reward for doing so.
Still, looking at him throughst century eyes some will never see him as anything but evil because he once owned slaves, He was a complex man, but honor was a big part of him and his loyalties lay with his home state, He was also a really good general, He made a few boneheaded maneuvers such as Pickett's Charge, but a war that could've been over in six months to a year lasted instead for four years, and Lee's generalship is part of the reason for that due to a combination of skill, luck, and bad decisions from the Union generals he was facing.
He also had a way of instilling confidence and loyalty in his men that no one else could manage, No matter how bleak something might seem, he was able to make people feel better about it and get them to carry on, Traveller tells us all about it, And about how well he treated his horses even if he didn't have anything for them to eat sometimes, He did the absolute best he could with what he had,

This book won't appeal to a wide audience, In order to enjoy it you'll need an interest in the War Between the States and prior knowledge of it might be required for following it, An interest in battle specifics, strategy, and tactics wouldn't be amiss either, If you don't have those, reading this might be slow going for you, If you do have those, then this book is awesome,

And I'm going to leave this here because I can: sitelinkJoan Baez The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Now, I know some people consider it akin to sacrilege to prefer this cover over The Band's original version, but I can't help it this one just does it for me even if Joan's politics makes my skin crawl.
Like Linda Ronstadt, she has a wonderful voice though the personalities make me want to puke, Still, this song strikes a chord with me and she sings it beautifully,

"Virgil, quick come see there goes Robert E, Lee. " I bet he was riding Traveller, .