
Blog


Published: 3/16/16
MESCH: Teacher of Civil War Generals (2015)
Teacher of Civil War Generals: Major General Charles Ferguson Smith, Soldier and West Point Commandant by Allen H. Mesch. McFarland, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-0-7864-9834-5. $39.95. Arguably, the education provided at...
Published: 3/11/16
How do we explain the continued endurance of the idea of black Confederates?
In this Behind the Lines interview, we talk with scholar Kevin Levin about where the phrase and idea of black Confederates came from and why it is so compelling for...
Published: 3/9/16
CANAVAN: Lincoln’s Final Hours (2015)
Lincoln’s Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America’s Greatest President by Kathryn Canavan. University Press of Kentucky, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0813166087. $29.95. Not a year goes by without several...
Published: 3/8/16
The Unintended Expert
Lisa Shafer Garry Adelman holds the first Civil War image he ever owned, an ambrotype of an unidentified Union soldier given to him by his grandmother at age 16. It...
Published: 3/2/16
CHAMBERS: No God But Gain (2015)
No God But Gain: The Untold Story of Cuban Slavery, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Making of the United States by Stephen Chambers. Verso Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1781688076. $27.00. ...
Published: 2/24/16
SILVERMAN: Lincoln and the Immigrant (2015)
Lincoln and the Immigrant by Jason H. Silverman. Southern Illinois University Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0809334346. $24.95. As an issue, immigration lends itself to an exegesis of Abraham Lincoln’s pronouncements...
Published: 2/19/16
What was the seedy side of Richmond like during the Civil War?
We talk with Ashley Whitehead Luskey about how the Civil War changed the city of Richmond in terms of size and especially in terms of social customs. As the city...
Published: 2/17/16
ENGLE (ed.): The War Worth Fighting (2015)
The War Worth Fighting: Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency and Civil War America edited by Stephen D. Engle. University Press of Florida, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0813060644. $31.95. The sesquicentennial of the Civil War...
Published: 2/10/16
DOWNS & MASUR (eds.): The World the Civil War Made (2015)
The World the Civil War Made edited by Gregory P. Downs and Kate Masur. University of North Carolina Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-1469624181. $29.95. A brief review such as this...
Published: 2/3/16
ALEXANDER: Dawn of Victory (2015)
Dawn of Victory: Breakthrough at Petersburg, March 25-April 2, 1865 by Edward S. Alexander. Savas Beatie, 2015. Paper, ISBN 978-1611212808. $12.95. There have been generations of attempts to pinpoint when...
Published: 1/29/16
What are the biggest myths surrounding the battle of Cold Harbor?
We talk with Mike Gorman, an historian and park ranger at Richmond National Battlefield Park about the many myths surrounding Cold Harbor. Did 3,000 men really die in one hour?...
Published: 1/27/16
THOMPSON: The National Joker (2015)
The National Joker: Abraham Lincoln and the Politics of Satire by Todd Nathan Thompson. Southern Illinois University Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 976-0-8093-3422-3. $29.50. Abraham Lincoln’s facility with words allowed him...
Published: 1/20/16
MILLER: Empty Sleeves (2015)
Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South by Brian Craig Miller. University of Georgia Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-0820343327. $29.95. In the opening pages of Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil...
Published: 1/13/16
BEILEIN & HULBERT (eds.): The Civil War Guerrilla (2015)
The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in History, Memory, and Myth edited by Joseph Beilein, Jr., and Matthew C. Hulbert. University Press of Kentucky, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0813165325. $50.00....
Published: 1/6/16
CHICK: The Battle of Petersburg (2015)
The Battle of Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864 by Sean Michael Chick. Potomac Books, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1612347127. $39.95. The combat east of Petersburg, Virginia, between June 15 and 18, 1864,...
Published: 12/30/15
LEWIS: For Slavery and Union (2015)
For Slavery and Union: Benjamin Buckner and Kentucky Loyalties in the Civil War by Patrick Lewis. University of Kentucky Press, 2015. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0813160795. $50.00. Abraham Lincoln’s oft-quoted phrase that...
Published: 12/23/15
CAUDILL & ASHDOWN: Inventing Custer (2015)
Inventing Custer: The Making of An American Legend by Edward Caudill and Paul G. Ashdown. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1442251861. $40.00. In America’s popular consciousness, the name George...
Published: 12/16/15
GALLMAN: Defining Duty (2015)
Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front by J. Matthew Gallman. The University of North Carolina Press, 2015. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1469620992. $45.00. “One...