I have discussed only one aspect of the Civil War that Keegan highlights in his rich and nutritious book, though it seems to me the most important. But there are many others, and Keegan has fascinating things to say on all of them. He has an excellent chapter on "Civil War Generalship". As he says, "the American Civil War continues to provide a wealth of material for the study of generalship of the highest order". He has excellent portraits of all the principal commanders on both sides, listing their strengths and weaknesses. In order of ability he lists the two Union generals, Ulysses S. Grant and William Sherman, as the best. 

Just below, he thinks, was the confederate hero Robert E. Lee, whom he considers a great tactician and "a gifted battle-winner", but a poor strategist. He takes the view, which I share, that Lee was too much of a gentleman to issue decisive battle-orders — that is why he lost Gettysburg. After these three, in Keegan's order of merit, come Nathan Forrest, James (Jeb) Stuart, Philip Henry Sheridan and Stonewall Jackson. The war also produced some very bad generals, led by George Brinton McClellan, always anxious to avoid a fight. 

This chapter shows Keegan at his best, but every page of his book is incisive and readable. Even American experts on this terrible and absorbing conflict will learn much from Keegan's account of it, and for British readers it will provide a first-class introduction to the formative event in the history of our closest ally.