Blogs

As Jon D. Schaff's "Abraham Lincoln's Statesmanship and the Limits of Liberal Democracy" shows, there is no discernible slowdown in the publication of books on the sixteenth president.

With the help of a handful of Civil War historians and enthusiasts, here is our list of the best Civil War books of 2019.

Sue Thibodeau's "Bicycling Gettysburg" encourages sightseers to temporarily ditch modern means of viewing the field in favor of traversing the south-central Pennsylvania countryside on a bike.

A panel of historians weighs in on the best qualities of William T. Sherman.

A look at Sherman's March to the Sea through images...

An illustrated look at the life of a Civil War drummer boy.

In Steven R. Stotelmyer's "Too Useful to Sacrifice," George B. McClellan has now received his day in court.

A first-person account of the bloody Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg...

"William Gregg’s Civil War" is brisk and lively as the guerrilla moves through his many experiences serving under William Quantrill.

Christopher Lyle McIlwain Sr.'s "The Million-Dollar Man Who Helped Kill a President" does an admirable job ...

Some first-person quotes about the pervasiveness of gambling in camp by Union and Confederate troops.

"The narrative comes to life" in Ralph Peters' "Darkness at Chancellorsville," one "of the best-written battle sequences I've ever read."

A look at one of the dogs charged with recapturing escaped prisoners from Andersonville

S.C. Gwynne's "Hymns of the Republic" is "a readable narrative that carries readers from Ulysses S. Grant’s arrival in the Eastern Theater to the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House."

A different look at the words Abraham Lincoln used in his iconic Gettysburg Address.

A look at William T. Sherman's Special Field Orders 120, which set the tone for the March to the Sea ...

Larry J. Daniel's "Conquered: Why the Confederacy Failed" is a convincing original argument, a comprehensive historiographical essay, and a compelling narrative.

In "Lincoln's Spies," Douglas Waller provides colorful detail on the lives and careers of Civil War spies...there is much material with which to work.

Brian R. Dirck's "The Black Heavens" is the first book-length treatment of the sixteenth president's long relationship with death.

Brooks Blevins' "The Conflicted Ozarks" is superb study of a fascinating region during a tumultuous period of destruction and rebuilding.