Bust Hell Wide Open, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.
Bust Hell Wide Open, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.
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Bust Hell Wide Open
The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest

Author: Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.

Narrator: Dan John Miller

Unabridged: 10 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/04/2016

Synopsis

An intimate biography of Nathan Bedford Forrest, arguably the most interesting figure to emerge from the Civil War—widely admired as a military geniusAt fourteen he became the head of his impoverished family, responsible for feeding eleven on the rough American frontier. By thirty-nine he had established himself as a successful plantation owner worth over $1 million. And at forty years old, Nathan Bedford Forrest enlisted in a Tennessee cavalry regiment—and became a controversial Civil War legend.The legacy of General Nathan Bedford Forrest is deeply divisive. Best known for being accused of war crimes at the Battle of Fort Pillow and for his role as first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan—an organization he later denounced—Forrest has often been studied as a military figure, but never before studied as a fascinating individual who wrestled with the complex issues of his violent times. Bust Hell Wide Open is a comprehensive portrait of Nathan Bedford Forrest as a man: his achievements, failings, reflections, and regrets.

About Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.

Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. has been a professor of history at Henderson State University, Georgia Southern University, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and a visiting professor at West Point. He is the author of more than twenty books on World War II, including Hitler’s Commanders and Triumphant Fox. He lives in Monroe, Louisiana.

About Dan John Miller

Dan John Miller is an American actor and musician. In the Oscar-winning Walk the Line, he starred as Johnny Cash’s guitarist and best friend, Luther Perkins, and has also appeared in George Clooney’s Leatherheads and My One and Only, with Renée Zellweger. An award-winning audiobook narrator, he has garnered multiple Audie Award nominations, has twice been named a Best Voice by AudioFile magazine, and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards and a Listen-Up Award from Publishers Weekly.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ben

Very good book about one of the most controversial figures of the Confederacy, Nathan Bedford Forrest. Known as a genius in the field, he was also infamous for his Grand Wizardry of the KKK , and leading the Fort Pillow massacre, and characatured in the Movie Forrest Gump. Now I need to read more th......more

Goodreads review by Richard

I think that this book is correct in saying that Nathan Bedford Forrest was one of the greatest generals of the Confederacy, which was known for its great generals. Perhaps only Stonewall Jackson was better. I had thought of Forrest mostly as a daring raider, like John Hunt Morgan, but the other sou......more

Goodreads review by Christopher

In a review of The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Peter Pratt writes:In the years since Forrest’s death in 1877 the Confederate general has been said to have either been a vile, barbarian slave-trader and racist murderer of surrendered colored troops and ex-slaves, and hooded devil of white sup......more

Goodreads review by Andrew

Excellent read which debunks a lot the myths surrounding a figure in American History who has been given a raw deal by both sides of the argument. He was, we can all agree, a brilliant military commander who was never used by his own side to his greatest effect. This was because he hadn't gone to Wes......more

Goodreads review by Robert J. Fanning

Good read.... Sets the story straight on Nathan Bedford Forrest.... Not nearly as wicked current opinions would indicate. We all have a path to pick.....it is safe to say (or write) that Nathan left this world looking up.......more

Quotes

“Narrator Dan John Miller does well performing this account of the life of the controversial Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. The author presents Forrest as a person with his own strengths, weaknesses, failings, and triumphs. Although Forrest is now known primarily for his leading role in the KKK during Reconstruction, he was, among other things, a self-made man who was amazingly industrious and a military genius without any formal military training. Miller affects a subdued Southern accent when reading this work. His pace is deliberate and steady, making this production easy to follow. He is quite expressive in reading quotations as well as narrative, ably affecting various accents.” AudioFile

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