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: 3/25/26
The 14th New York State Militia in the Civil War (2025)
McLean, Jr.’s study of the Fourteenth New York State Militia offers an exemplar of how regimental histories can benefit those whose interests extend beyond a particular unit.
Published: 3/18/26
A Nation Unraveled (2026)
"A Nation Unraveled" makes its most compelling interventions by supplying testimony about how the war intruded on even the most mundane aspects of everyday life.
Published: 3/11/26
Little Round Top at Gettysburg (2026)
Few sites on the Civil War landscape carry as much weight as Little Round Top, that storied, rock-strewn knob on the southern end of the Gettysburg battlefield.
Published: 3/4/26
Boss Lincoln (2026)
The Lincoln who emerges from Pinsker’s book is for the most part the morally driven Lincoln we thought we knew, but with added dimension.
Published: 2/25/26
A Fate Worse Than Hell (2026)
"A Fate Worse Than Hell" is a landmark book that will engross the reading public.
Published: 2/18/26
Love and Loss After Wounded Knee (2025)
Dobrow gives the reader a chance to live with two extraordinary individuals trying and failing to navigate the perilous waters of personal, sexual, and racial politics in the 19th century
Published: 2/11/26
Becoming Lunsford Lane (2025)
Craig Thompson Friend's book provides invaluable insights into slavery, abolition, and race in the nineteenth century United States.
Published: 2/4/26
John Brown in New York (2025)
An excellent and engaging book that students of John Brown will want on their bookshelf.
Published: 1/28/26
Union Soldiers of Southwestern Illinois (2024)
John J. Dunphy's "Union Soldiers of Southwestern Illinois" introduces some lesser-known figures from a region long regarded as pro-Confederate.
Published: 1/21/26
The Girl in the Middle (2025)
Martha A. Sandweiss uses a single photograph to explore a sprawling century of U.S. history.
Published: 1/14/26
The Republican House Divided (2025)
"The Republican House Divided" joins a growing shelf of books on modern Civil War memory.
Published: 1/7/26
David Davis (2025)
Raymond J. McKoski presents an informative biography of a key Lincoln ally on the United States Supreme Court.
Published: 12/30/25
Union Guerrillas of Civil War Kansas (2025)
Authors Paul Thomas and Matt Matthews provide an informative work on the guerrilla warfare that roiled the Missouri-Kansas border during the U.S. Civil War.
Published: 12/24/25
The Devil’s Own Purgatory (2025)
Robert Gudmestad's "The Devil's Own Purgatory" is the definitive history of the Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War.
Published: 12/17/25
The Second Manassas Campaign (2025)
"The Second Manassas Campaign" takes its place on a growing shelf of books about this pivotal operation.
Published: 12/10/25
War Fought and Felt (2025)
Joshua Shiver seeks access to the inner world of Confederate soldiers by reconstructing their relationships as husbands, sweethearts, parents, and messmates.
Published: 12/3/25
The 1st Michigan Colored Regiment (2025)
An illuminating look at the experience of Black soldiers in the Civil War.
Published: 11/26/25
Conflict and Controversy in the Confederate High Command (2025)
"Conflict and Controversy in the Confederate High Command" is a readable and historiographically informed military history.