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: 5/16/18
COOK: Civil War Memories (2017)
Civil War Memories: Contesting the Past in the United States since 1865 by Robert J. Cook. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. Paper, ISBN: 978-1421423494. $24.95. On June 17, 2015, white nationalist Dylann Roof...
Published: 5/9/18
MACKOWSKI & WHITE (eds.): Turning Points of the American Civil War (2017)
Turning Points of the American Civil War edited by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White. Southern Illinois University Press, 2017. Paper, ISBN: 978-0809336210. $24.50. In his forward to this finely crafted anthology...
Published: 5/2/18
JORDAN (ed.): The Slave-Trader’s Letter-Book (2018)
The Slave-Trader’s Letter-Book: Charles Lamar, the Wanderer, and Other Tales of the African Slave Trade by Jim Jordan. University of Georgia Press, 2018. Hardcover. ISBN: 978-0-8203-5196-4. $32.95. The Slave-Trader’s Letter-Book is much more...
Published: 4/25/18
RHEA: On to Petersburg (2017)
On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee June 4-15, 1864 by Gordon C. Rhea. Louisiana State University Press, 2017. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0807167472. $45.00. The six-week Overland Campaign in Virginia between May 4 and June...
Published: 4/18/18
POWELL: Battle Above the Clouds (2017)
Battle Above the Clouds: Lifting the Siege of Chattanooga and the Battle of Lookout Mountain, October 16 – November 24, 1863 by David A. Powell. Savas Beatie, 2017. Paper, ISBN 978-1-61121-377-5....
Published: 4/11/18
BELCHER: The Cavalries at Stones River (2017)
The Cavalries at Stones River: An Analytical History by Dennis W. Belcher. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2017. Paper, ISBN: 978-1476665368. $39.95. The Battle of Stones River, fought from December 31, 1862, to January...
Published: 4/4/18
FRAKER: Looking for Lincoln in Illinois (2017)
Looking for Lincoln in Illinois: A Guide to Lincoln’s Eighth Judicial Circuit by Guy C. Fraker. Southern Illinois University Press, 2017. Paper, IBSN: 978-0809336166. $21.95. This is a delightful journey along the highways and...
Published: 3/28/18
CHERNOW: Grant (2017)
Grant by Ron Chernow. Penguin Press, 2017. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1594204876. $40.00. The standard interpretation of Ulysses S. Grant’s life usually recounts an undistinguished West Point and antebellum army career ended by alcohol abuse,...
Published: 3/21/18
KEATING: The Greatest Trials I Ever Had (2017)
The Greatest Trials I Ever Had: The Civil War Letters of Margaret and Thomas Cahill edited by Ryan W. Keating. University of Georgia Press, 2017. Paper, ISBN: 978-0820351551. $26.95. Good or even...
Published: 3/14/18
AYERS: The Thin Light of Freedom (2017)
The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America by Edward Ayers. W.W. Norton, 2017. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0393292633. $35.00. At first glance, The Thin Light of Freedom appears...
Published: 3/7/18
QUINT: Determined to Stand and Fight (2017)
Determined to Stand and Fight: The Battle of Monocacy, July 9, 1864 by Ryan T. Quint. Savas Beatie, 2017. Paper, ISBN 978-1-61121-346-1. $14.95. Nestled in the pastures southeast of Frederick, Maryland,...
Published: 2/28/18
SODERGREN: The Army of the Potomac in the Overland and Petersburg Campaigns (2017)
The Army of the Potomac in the Overland and Petersburg Campaigns by Steven E. Sodergren. Louisiana State Press, 2017. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0807165560. $47.95. In 1998, J. Tracy Power published Lee’s Miserables, a groundbreaking analysis...
Published: 2/21/18
SCALES: The Battles and Campaigns of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest (2017)
The Battles and Campaigns of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest 1861-1865 by John R. Scales. Savas Beatie, 2017. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1611212846. $32.95. In 1868, with the nation in the midst of a contentious political realignment...
Published: 2/14/18
PERRY: Bluff, Bluster, Lies and Spies (2016)
Bluff, Bluster, Lies and Spies: The Lincoln Foreign Policy, 1861–1865 by David Perry. Casemate, 2016. Cloth, ISBN: 9781612003627. $32.95. In this book, the author takes on one of the more fascinating—and...
Published: 2/7/18
McKNIGHT & MYERS (eds.): The Guerrilla Hunters (2017)
The Guerrilla Hunters: Irregular Conflicts During the Civil War edited by Brian D. McKnight & Barton A. Myers. Louisiana State University Press, 2017. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0807164976. $49.95. Brian D. McKnight and Barton...
Published: 1/31/18
BICKNELL: Lincoln’s Pathfinder (2017)
Lincoln’s Pathfinder: John C. Frémont and the Violent Election of 1856 by John Bicknell. Chicago Review Press, Inc., 2017. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1613737972. $26.99. John Bicknell is an accomplished journalist and author who should be...
Published: 1/24/18
POWELL: Barren Victory (2017)
The Chickamaugua Campaign: Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863 by David A. Powell. Savas Beatie, 2017. Paper,...
Published: 1/12/18
HESS: Civil War Logistics (2017)
Civil War Logistics: A Study of Civil War Transportation by Earl J. Hess. Louisiana State University Press, 2017. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0807167502. $45.95. Earl Hess is a Civil War Renaissance man. In a career spanning...