"Sherman's Ghosts opens with an epic retelling of General Sherman's fateful decision to turn his sights on the South's civilian population in order to break the back of the Confederacy. Acclaimed author Matthew Carr then exposes how this strategy became the central preoccupation of war planners in the twentieth century and beyond, offering a stunning and lucid assessment of the impact Sherman's slash-and-burn policies have had on subsequent wars, including World War II and in the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, and even Iraq and Afghanistan."--Publisher's Web site.