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To know what war is, one should follow our tracks, General William T. Sherman once wrote to his wife, describing the devastation left by his armies in Georgia. Shermans Ghosts is an investigation of the tracks left by the wars fought by the American military in the 150 years since Shermans infamous March to the Sea. Shermans Ghosts opens with an epic retelling of General Shermans fateful decision to turn his sights on the Souths civilian population in order to break the back of the Confederacy. Acclaimed journalist 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 Shermans slash-and-burn policies have had on subsequent wars, including in the Philippines, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and even Iraq and Afghanistan.