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John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship. By Donald B. Connelly. Civil War America. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, c. 2006. Pp. xvi, 471. $49.95, ISBN 978-0-8078-3007-0.)
In nineteenth-century America, U.S. Army officers commonly advised "that the path to military professionalism lay through a complete separation of military from political affairs" (pp. 1-2). Linked to this concept is the idea that when politicians and generals muddle in each other's affairs, victory becomes illusive. In part, this is a myth, and successful políticos and officers are aware of the need for mutual cooperation. The challenge remains, however, of how to achieve a working relationship, and the answer lies in Donald B. Connelly's biography, John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship.
Schofield, as Connelly ably demonstrates, understood like few others that a senior officer must remain active, if respectful and subordinate, in the political realm. In the process of demonstrating...