Published: 2/16/24Jefferson Davis’ Inaugural AddressBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line At 1 p.m. on February 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America at Montgomery, Alabama. Davis, 52, who had served as U.S. secretary...
Published: 2/14/24SMITH: The Iron Dice of Battle (2023)By: Riley SullivanCategory: Book Reviews Timothy B. Smith's "The Iron Dice of Battle" offers a fresh interpretation of the often-overlooked Albert Sidney Johnston.
Published: 2/7/24ALTEMOS: From the Wilderness to Appomattox (2023)By: Zachery A. FryCategory: Book Reviews Edward Altemos' "From the Wilderness to Appomattox" is a solid regimental history for an outfit that deserves it.
Published: 1/31/24WILLOUGHBY: Masters of Health (2022)By: Jonathan S. JonesCategory: Book Reviews Christopher D.E. Willoughby's "Masters of Health" is essential reading for historians of medicine and slavery.
Published: 1/24/24LAMBERT, JR: The Political Transformation of David Tod (2023)By: Daniel W. Crofts Category: Book Reviews Joseph Lambert, Jr.'s "The Political Transformation of David Tod" is a nicely written biography of Ohio's governor during two tumultuous years of war.
Published: 1/17/24RABLE: Conflict of Command (2023)By: Andrew F. LangCategory: Book Reviews In "Conflict of Command," George C. Rable's dispassionate presentation of evidence allows historical contemporaries to tell their own story.
Published: 1/8/24Extra Voices: Doldrums of WarBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: The Front Line In the Voices section of our Fall 2023 issue we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about the long stretches of inactivity and boredom they regularly faced. Unfortunately, we didn’t have room to include all that we found. Below are those that just missed the cut.
Published: 1/3/24CRAGO: The Creation of a Crusader (2023)By: Frank Kalisik IIICategory: Book Reviews The Creation of a Crusader: Senator Thomas Morris and the Birth of the Antislavery Movement by David C. Crago. Kent State University Press, 2023. Paper, IBSN: 978-1606354636. $39.95. Thomas Morris,...
Published: 12/29/23BEILEIN, JR.: A Man by Any Other Name (2023)By: Cecily N. ZanderCategory: Book Reviews In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, historians of a much earlier American conflict began to see similarities between the guerilla warfare that played out in the dense jungles of Southeast Asia and the irregular fighting that characterized the Civil War experience in places like Missouri and Kansas.
Published: 12/21/23SILBER: Twelve Days (2023)By: Gordon BergCategory: Book Reviews Twelve Days: How The Union Nearly Lost Washington in the First Days of the Civil War by Tony Silber. Potomac Books, 2023, Cloth, IBSN: 978-1640125483. $36.95. Historical consensus has long...
Published: 12/19/23MENDELSOHN: Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War (2023)By: Gordon BergCategory: Book Reviews Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army by Adam D. Mendelsohn. New York University Press, 2022. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1479812233. $35.00. For more than 100 years, the go-to reference...
Published: 12/13/23SEGER (ed.): Reading Confederate Monuments (2022)By: Maddie SetiawanCategory: Book Reviews Reading Confederate Monuments edited by Maria Seger. University Press of Mississippi, 2022. Paper, ISBN: 9781496841643. $25.00. Confederate monuments continue to permeate the discourse on Civil War memory, especially in its...
Published: 12/11/23The Best Civil War Books of 2023By: The Civil War MonitorCategory: Featured The Books & Authors section of our Winter 2023 issue contains our annual roundup of the year’s best Civil War titles. As usual, we’ve enlisted a handful of Civil War...
Published: 12/6/23HULBERT: Oracle of Lost Causes (2023)By: Summer PerrittCategory: Book Reviews Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards and His Never-Ending Civil War by Matthew Christopher Hulbert. Bison Books, 2023. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1-4962-1187-3. $34.95. Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards...
Published: 11/23/23Thanksgiving DayBy: The Civil War MonitorCategory: Photo Essays “It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do...
Published: 11/22/23GOODEN: The Governor’s Pawns (2023)By: Gordon BergCategory: Book Reviews The Governor’s Pawns: Hostages and Hostage-Taking in Civil War West Virginia by Randall S. Gooden. Kent State University Press, 2023. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1-60635-457-5. $55.00. On April 28, 1863, a detail...
Published: 11/15/23WHITE: Shipwrecked (2023)By: J. Matthew WardCategory: Book Reviews Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade by Jonathan W. White. Rowman and Littlefield, 2023. Cloth, ISBN: 9781538175019. $29.95. Jonathan W. White...
Published: 11/8/23BRUNDAGE (ed.): A New History of the American South (2023)By: Aaron David HyamsCategory: Book Reviews A New History of the American South edited by W. Fitzhugh Brundage. University of North Carolina Press, 2023. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1469626659. $45.00. A New History of the American South delivers...
Published: 11/1/23STRALEY: A Constant Reminder to All (2022)By: Brian Matthew JordanCategory: Book Reviews A Constant Reminder to All: Stonewall Jackson, the Lost Cause, and the Making of a West Virginia Idol by Steven Cody Straley. 35th Star Publishing, 2022. Paper, IBSN: 979-8-9865993-5-9. $15.95....
Published: 10/30/23The Books That Built Me: John HennessyBy: John HennessyCategory: Featured The contruction of my historiographical self began on a rainy afternoon in fifth grade. There was no chance for outdoor romping, or venturing through the deluge to a friend’s house...