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: 4/10/19
Aberration of Mind (2018)
In Aberration of Mind, Diane Miller Sommerville examines hundreds of individual instances of suffering in the wartime and postwar South to reveal the ways the Civil War traumatized Southerners—and how that...
Published: 4/3/19
Holding the Line on the River of Death (2018)
Eric J. Wittenberg’s Holding the Line on the River of Death examines two cavalry actions on September 18, 1863, what he calls the first day of the battle of Chickamauga. Wittenberg...
Published: 3/27/19
This War Ain’t Over (2018)
In the current fractious political climate of the United States, concerns about racism, economic anxiety, and cultural pluralism are regularly voiced in an ongoing and divisive conversation about American ideals...
Published: 3/20/19
The Great Battle Never Fought (2018)
A relative quiet in active military operations in the East began in mid-July 1863 and lasted until the beginning of May 1864. The three-day bloodbath at Gettysburg had crippled both...
Published: 3/13/19
The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War (2018)
In the Civil War’s immediate aftermath, Francis B. Wallace, a Union veteran from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and associate editor of the Miner’s Journal, believed that the service and sacrifice of men...
Published: 3/6/19
The Perfect Scout (2018)
Personal memoirs of men serving as scouts during the Civil War are in short supply. Scouting for Grant and Meade: The Reminiscences of Judson Knight, Chief of Scouts, Army of...
Published: 2/27/19
POWELL: The Chickamauga Campaign: Glory or the Grave (2017)
The Chickamauga Campaign—Glory or the Grave: The Breakthrough, the Union Collapse, and the Defense of Horseshoe Ridge, September 20, 1863 by David A. Powell. Savas Beatie, 2017. Paper, ISBN: 978-1611213836. $22.95. Civil...
Published: 2/20/19
ARMISTEAD & ARCONTI: “An Arch Rebel Like Myself” (2018)
“An Arch Rebel Like Myself”: Dan Showalter and the Civil War in California and Texas by Gene C. Armistead and Robert D. Arconti. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2018. Paper, IBSN: 978-1476674612. $39.95....
Published: 2/13/19
WYNSTRA: At The Forefront of Lee’s Invasion (2018)
At The Forefront of Lee’s Invasion: Retribution, Plunder, and Clashing Cultures on Richard S. Ewell’s Road to Gettysburg by Robert J. Wynstra. Kent State University Press, 2018. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1606353547. $49.95. At...
Published: 2/6/19
BARNARD (ed.): An Aide to Custer (2018)
An Aide to Custer: The Civil War Letters of Lt. Edward G. Granger edited by Sandy Barnard and compiled by Thomas E. Singelyn. University of Oklahoma Press, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0806160184. $39.95....
Published: 1/30/19
BLOUNT: Wilson’s Raid (2018)
Wilson’s Raid: The Final Blow to the Confederacy by Russell W. Blount, Jr. The History Press, 2018. Paper, ISBN: 9781467139038. $21.99 By the final months of the Civil War, Union cavalry had...
Published: 1/23/19
SCHMIDT & BARKLEY: September Mourn (2018)
September Mourn: The Dunker Church of Antietam Battlefield by Alann Schmidt and Terry Barkley. Savas Beatie, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1611214017. $19.95. The Dunker Church on the Antietam battlefield is one of the most iconic...
Published: 1/16/19
BURLINGAME (ed.): Sixteenth President-in-Waiting (2018)
Sixteenth President-in-Waiting: Abraham Lincoln and the Springfield Dispatches of Henry Villard, 1860-1861 edited by Michael Burlingame. Southern Illinois University Press, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0809336432. $45.50. Scholars tend to emphasize Henry Villard’s years...
Published: 1/9/19
GOTTFRIED: The Maps of Fredericksburg (2018)
The Maps of Fredericksburg: An Atlas of the Fredericksburg Campaign, Including all Cavalry Operations, September 18, 1862 – January 22, 1863 by Bradley M. Gottfried. Savas Beatie, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1-61121-372-0....
Published: 1/2/19
TETERS: Practical Liberators (2018)
Practical Liberators: Union Officers In the Western Theater During the Civil War by Kristopher A. Teters. The University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Cloth, ISBN:978-1469638867. $32.95. Kristopher A. Teters’s new book...
Published: 12/26/18
SAUERS: The National Tribune Civil War Index (2018)
The National Tribune Civil War Index: A Guide to the Weekly Newspaper Dedicated to Civil War Veterans, 1877-1943 compiled by Richard Sauers. 3 vols. Savas Beatie, 2018. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1611213645. $44.95 (for...
Published: 12/19/18
WILLIAMS & KUTZLER (eds.): Prison Pens (2018)
Prison Pens: Gender, Memory, and Imprisonment in the Writings of Mollie Scollay and Wash Nelson, 1863-1866 edited by Timothy J. Williams and Evan A. Kutzler. University of Georgia Press, 2018. ISBN:...
Published: 12/12/18
ROBERTS (ed.): ‘This Infernal War’ (2018)
“This Infernal War”: The Civil War Letters of William and Jane Standard edited by Timothy Mason Roberts. Kent State University Press, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1606353356. $34.95. The correspondence of William and Jane...