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: 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...
Published: 12/5/18
MITCHAM: Vicksburg (2018)
Vicksburg: The Bloody Siege that Turned the Tide of the Civil War by Samuel W. Mitcham. Regnery History, 2018. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1621576396. $29.99. Samuel Mitcham’s recounting of events along the Mississippi River takes the...
Published: 11/28/18
SOMMERS: Challenges of Command in the Civil War (2018)
Challenges of Command in the Civil War: Generalship, Leadership, and Strategy at Gettysburg, Petersburg, and Beyond by Richard J. Sommers. Savas Beatie, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1611214321. $29.95 Every serious student of the Civil War...
Published: 11/21/18
STEWART & MARKS (eds.): Race and Nation in the Age of Emancipations (2018)
Race and Nation in the Age of Emancipations edited by Whitney Nell Stewart and John Garrison Marks.University of Georgia Press, 2018. Paper, ISBN: 978-0820353111. $29.95. In Race and Nation in the Age of Emancipations, editors...
Published: 11/14/18
WERT: Civil War Barons (2018)
Civil War Barons: The Tycoons, Entrepreneurs, Inventors and Visionaries Who Forged Victory and Shaped a Nation by Jeffry D. Wert. DaCapo, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0306825125. $30.00. Jeffry D. Wert is perhaps best...
Published: 11/7/18
ULLRICH & CRAIG: General E.A. Paine in Western Kentucky (2018)
General E.A. Paine in Western Kentucky: Assessing the “Reign of Terror” of the Summer of 1864 by Dieter C. Ullrich and Berry Craig. McFarland, 2018. Paper, ISBN: 978-1476671437. $39.95. Civil War...
Published: 10/31/18
LANG: In The Wake of War (2017)
In The Wake of War: Military Occupation, Emancipation, and Civil War America by Andrew F. Lang. Louisiana State University Press, 2017. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0807167069. $47.50. Americans today are seemingly unconcerned about standing...
Published: 10/24/18
WHITE: New Bern and the Civil War (2018)
New Bern and the Civil War by James Edward White III. The History Press, 2018. Paper, ISBN: 978-1625859921. $21.99. Local historian James White has produced an account of the small North Carolina...
Published: 10/17/18
BLIGHT: Frederick Douglass (2018)
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight. Simon and Schuster, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1416590316. $37.50. Esteemed historian David Blight has produced a masterfully researched, nuanced, and beautifully written biography of...
Published: 10/10/18
CROON (ed.): The War Outside My Window (2018)
The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865 edited by Janet Elizabeth Croon. Savas Beatie, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1611213881. $34.95. Georgia resident LeRoy Wiley Gresham (1847-1865) began...
Published: 10/3/18
EMERSON (ed.): “Don’t tell father I have been shot at” (2018)
“Don’t tell father I have been shot at”: The Civil War Letters of Captain George N. Bliss, First Rhode Island Cavalry edited by William C. Emerson with Elizabeth C. Stevens. McFarland,...
Published: 9/26/18
THOMAS: Wade Hampton’s Iron Scouts (2018)
Wade Hampton’s Iron Scouts by D. Michael Thomas. The History Press, 2018. Paper, ISBN: 9781467139380. $21.99 Robert E. Lee was a general who cherished the military initiative as a key component to strategic and...
Published: 9/12/18
HARDY: Kirk’s Civil War Raids Along the Blue Ridge (2018)
Kirk’s Civil War Raids Along the Blue Ridge by Michael Hardy. The History Press, 2018. Paper, ISBN: 978-1625858467. $21.99. Officially promoted to Colonel of the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry (US) on...
Published: 9/9/18
GURA: Man’s Better Angels (2017)
Man’s Better Angels: Romantic Reformers and the Coming of the Civil War by Philip F. Gura. Harvard University Press, 2017. Cloth, ISBN: 9780674659544. $29.95. Most historians are aware of John Brown,...
Published: 9/5/18
NASH: Reconstruction’s Ragged Edge (2016)
Reconstruction’s Ragged Edge: The Politics of Postwar Life in the Southern Mountains by Steven E. Nash. University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1469626246. $39.95. In examining Reconstruction historiography, Appalachia is...
Published: 8/29/18
HARDY: General Lee’s Immortals (2018)
General Lee’s Immortals: The Battles and Campaigns of the Branch-Lane Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 by Michael C. Hardy. Savas Beatie, 2018. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1611213621.$34.95. Civil War history and...
Published: 8/22/18
PFANZ: Where Valor Proudly Sleeps (2018)
Where Valor Proudly Sleeps: A History of Fredericksburg National Cemetery, 1866-1933 by Donald C. Pfanz. Engaging the Civil War Series at Southern Illinois University Press, 2018. Paper, ISBN: 978-0809336456. $26.50. Today, the Fredericksburg...
Published: 8/21/18
COLLINS: A Crooked River (2018)
A Crooked River: Rustlers, Rangers, and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande, 1861-1877 by Michael L. Collins. University of Oklahoma Press, 2018. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0806160085. $29.95. “It has often been said,” Michael L....