Good, concise overview of the very bloody (84,000 casualties in approximately 40 days of continuous battle)Virginia Overland Campaign between Robert E. Lee and U. S. Grant in May and June of 1864. Actual battle narrative is relatively brief and to the point. The strength of Mr Trudeau's book comes through his excellent use of personal anecdotes and observations. To hear the actual participants describe the scenes, smells, sounds, and pathos of the battles gives one a better understanding of the horrors of those grisly conflicts. The time of chivalry was over; TOTAL WAR was afoot. As Mr. Trudeau points out, Grant knew how to win, but could his men withstand the gruesome sacrifice during almost 40 days of constant battle? Lee also knew that this was the ultimate crucible and he must use every trick he could to defeat this foe. But, in the end after Cold Harbor and a combined 84,000 casualties, of which only 30,000 were Confederate, who was the victor? Lee knew that he could never replace his valiant fighters, but, Grant knew that he had an almost inexhaustible supply of soldiers and with each battle they were getting better and better. So in the end Grant, "The Butcher" as he was called behind his back, literally ground Lee and his army to dust.
One inexcusable flaw in this otherwise good Civil War history was the lack of battle maps. To discuss a battle without a good map makes if very difficult to follow the action even for a good civil war buff. I have no clue as to why Mr. Trudeau did not include any good maps in his book. Therefore, I highly recommend that you get several good maps to follow along with his otherwise excellent description of the battles.

One of the biggest difficulties authors of war-history are confronted with is keeping the imparitality. Even if you read books about the Roman wars you can read between the lines the admiration for the technical perfection of the invaders or the sympathy for the brave Gauls fighting against all odds. As a rule Civil War historians succumb to the same problem.
This book is a wonderful exception. That may be because of the structure of the presentation: It is a day-by-day-account, the standpoint, the decisions and the events of either side separated in own phrases. If you are interrested only in the Confederate point of view, you can read the respective phrases and then you only know, what they saw, thought and did. Even between the lines there are no polemics. And the told stories are not only the generals' view but also testimonies of officers, non-commissioned officers and common soldiers.
The only thing I missed badly were appropriate maps. With the included ones you will get a rough overview, but a lot of the mentioned places you won't find in that book. That's a pity, because otherwise it would have been a perfect one.