Meade The Price of Command, 1863-1865

John G. Selby . . . has produced a biography on one of the Civil War's most central figures, George Gordon Meade. The Philadelphia general once predicted that history would not be kind to him, and indeed, he was largely correct. Although Meade commanded the Army of the Potomac, the North's principal instrument of war, longer than any other general, Meade has remained marginalized in the war's narrative and relatively obscure in the scholarship. . . . Selby's Meade: The Price of Command, 1863-1865 is a critical contribution to Civil War scholarship and advances our understanding of General Meade and his command of the Army of the Potomac." - Civil War Monitor

"Selby has done an excellent job of mining all available sources to re-create Meade's tenure as commander of the Union's largest field army. In doing so, Selby has drawn an accurate but favorable portrait of his subject. . . . Most important, Meade's relationship with [Ulysses S.] Grant is analyzed for a fair assessment of his contributions in the final campaigns of the war. In the end, writes Selby, 'What mattered most to Meade was not whether he held the position [of commanding general] but how his performance affected his military reputation.' That reputation suffered for years following the Civil War, but in modern times astute historians have given Meade more of the credit he is due. Selby's thoughtful investigation will do much to burnish his reputation." - Journal of America's Military Past