Gettysburg: The True Account of Two Young Heroes in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War by Iain Cameron Martin.

I wanted to like this book, and it had a lot going for it: lots of good, well-placed photographs, an absorbing subject, apt quotations from numerous primary sources, a good flow to the story, for the most part, thorough attention to details without getting bogged down.

However, take this sentence . . . please:

“Ewell reconsidered his options and ordered Johnson to take Culp’s Hill with his division when they arrived but was only to advance if the hill remained unoccupied by the enemy—a discretionary order.”

Ouch. There were several awkward sentences and grammatical constructions, and I began to wonder if the book actually had an editor–or a proofreader. The publisher, Sky Pony Press, is not one I’ve ever encountered, but I looked at their website and they seem like a decent small publisher/imprint. The design and layout and most of the text are all quite above average. So it was even more jarring to read sentences like the one above or come across paragraphs with mixed verb tenses.

In addition, the book was unsuitably titled since it didn’t really focus on the “two young heroes,” Daniel Skelly and Tillie Pierce. The two eyewitnesses to the battle are quoted, and their stores are told. But the book includes so much more from so many more witnesses. The subtitle is not a good reflection of the scope of the book.

It’s sad because I became fascinated with the battle of Gettysburg in a bittersweet sort of way long ago when I read Killer Angels and then all over again when I saw the movie Gettysburg. Is there anything more tragic, and just sadder, than Pickett’s doomed charge? There can hardly be too many books about Gettysburg, but the subject shouldn’t be marred by infelicitous prose and bad syntax.