Book Reviews
The digital home of book reviews and author interviews—and your source of the most up-to-date information on all things Civil War literature
Published: 9/3/25
Lincoln the Citizen (2025)
Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame has shepherded another important primary source into print.
Published: 8/27/25
Gettysburg Surgeons (2025)
"Gettysburg Surgeons" is an engaging narrative that addresses neglected aspects along the battle's well-traveled road.
Published: 8/20/25
Sexual Violence and American Slavery (2024)
"Sexual Violence and American Slavery" thoughtfully makes hard and critical history accessible and understandable.
Published: 8/13/25
Texas: An American History (2025)
Benjamin Heber Johnson has mastered his subject in "Texas: An American History."
Published: 8/6/25
The Final Bivouac (2025)
Chris Calkins's "The Final Bivouac" documents the "end" of the war in Virginia.
Published: 7/30/25
The Lower Battlefield of Antietam (2025)
Robert M. Dunkerly deserves credit for calling much-needed attention to the decisive final attack at Antietam.
Published: 7/23/25
The Age of Reconstruction (2024)
Don Doyle's engagingly written and impressively researched "The Age of Reconstruction" invites scholars to consider what the Civil War era meant to the broader world.
Published: 7/16/25
The Pathfinder and the President (2025)
In "The Pathfinder and the President," John Bicknell employs a wide cast of characters to offer a fresh narrative on a familiar topic.
Published: 7/9/25
1861: The Lost Peace (2025)
With Lincoln elected in November 1860 and the Deep South bitterly estranged, might a Union-saving compromise still have been possible?
Published: 7/2/25
Faith of the Fathers (2025)
Robert J. Miller's "Faith of the Fathers" is a valuable addition to the scholarship on the chaplaincy, Civil War-era religion, and American Catholicism.
Published: 6/25/25
Glorious Courage (2025)
"Glorious Courage" provides a fresh interpretation of John Pelham, the young officer Lee and Stuart once described as "irreplaceable."
Published: 6/18/25
Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia (2025)
The primary contribution of Michael Hardy's book is a deep dip into the existing personal accounts written by men who served in the Army of Northern Virginia.
Published: 6/11/25
Fighting for Freedom (2025)
"Fighting For Freedom" provides an excellent window into the lives of Black craftspeople in the long 19th century.
Published: 6/4/25
The Radical Advocacy of Wendell Phillips (2024)
The abolitionist Wendell Phillips "pioneered the craft of public interest lawyering," writes author Peter Charles Hoffer.
Published: 5/29/25
From Camp Douglas to Vicksburg (2025)
"From Camp Douglas to Vicksburg" is one of the best collections of soldier letters that has been published in recent years.
Published: 5/21/25
In The Thickest of the Fray (2025)
"In The Thickest of the Fray" proves an intriguing approach and welcome addition to Gettysburg campaign historiography.
Published: 5/14/25
Boutwell (2025)
"Boutwell" goes beyond rescuing a historical figure from obscurity; it seeks to understand its subject on his terms.
Published: 5/7/25
Gendering Secession (2025)
Melissa DeVelvis has carefully mined her sources in "Gendering Secession."