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: 6/22/16
HOOPER: Lincoln’s Generals’ Wives (2016)
Lincoln’s Generals’ Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War—for Better and for Worse by Candice Shy Hooper. Kent State University Press, 2016. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1-60635-278-6. $39.95. In this intricate comparative...
Published: 6/15/16
PHILLIPS: The Rivers Ran Backward (2016)
The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border by Christopher Phillips. Oxford University Press, 2016. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0195187236. $34.95. In The Rivers Ran Backward,...
Published: 6/8/16
PANHORST: The Memorial Art and Architecture of Vicksburg National Military Park (2015)
The Memorial Art and Architecture of Vicksburg National Military Park by Michael W. Panhorst. Kent State University Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-1-60635-219-9. $19.95. Historical memory is an ever-growing subfield. Coupled...
Published: 6/1/16
MEDFORD: Lincoln and Emancipation (2015)
Lincoln and Emancipation by Edna Greene Medford. Southern Illinois University Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0809333639. $24.95. “Who freed the slaves?” is becoming a tiresome debate, but it remains contentious. Like most...
Published: 5/25/16
HUBBARD (ed.): Lincoln, the Law, and Presidential Leadership (2015)
Lincoln, the Law, and Presidential Leadership edited by Charles M. Hubbard. Southern Illinois University Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0809334544. $34.50. Is there anything new to be written about Abraham Lincoln’s...
Published: 5/18/16
WILSON: Private John S. Mosby, First Virginia Cavalry (2015)
Private John S. Mosby, First Virginia Cavalry: Picketing Fairfax County Before Becoming the Confederacy’s “Gray Ghost” by Gregory Wilson. CreateSpace, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-1517255855. $25.00. Before he rode to glory...
Published: 5/11/16
NOYALAS: Civil War Legacy in the Shenandoah (2015)
Civil War Legacy in the Shenandoah: Remembrance, Reunion, and Reconciliation by Jonathan A. Noyalas. The History Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-1626198883. $21.99. Following the cessation of the Civil War’s hostilities,...
Published: 5/4/16
PERO: Gettysburg 1863 (2015)
Gettysburg 1863: Seething Hell: The Epic Battle of the Civil War in the Soldiers’ Own Words by Thomas R. Pero. Wild River Press, 2015. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0989523622. $75.00. “I think...
Published: 4/27/16
CROFTS: Lincoln & the Politics of Slavery (2016)
Lincoln & the Politics of Slavery: The Other Thirteenth Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union by Daniel W. Crofts. University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1469627311. $35.00....
Published: 4/20/16
IZECKSOHN: Slavery and War in the Americas (2014)
Slavery and War in the Americas: Race, Citizenship, and State Building in the United States and Brazil, 1861-1870 by Vitor Izecksohn. University of Virginia Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0813935850. $45.00. Historians...
Published: 4/13/16
GUNNIN (ed.): Letters to Virtue (2014)
Letters to Virtue: A Civil War Journey of Courage, Faith, and Love—Pvt. Charles W. Sherman, 12th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry edited by Ann K. Gunnin. BookLogix, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-1610055208. $29.00. Situated among the...
Published: 4/13/16
LOWRY: Galvanized Virginians in the Indian Wars (2015)
Galvanized Virginians in the Indian Wars by Thomas Power Lowry. Idle Winter Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-0692550748. $16.99. Working from the late Major Robert E. Denney’s invaluable database of 3,710 Confederate...
Published: 4/6/16
ACKEN (ed.): Service with the Signal Corps (2015)
Service with the Signal Corps: The Civil War Memoir of Captain Louis R. Fortescue edited by J. Gregory Acken. University of Tennessee Press, 2015. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1621901259. $48.50. The U.S. Veteran...
Published: 3/30/16
DIXON: The Lost Gettysburg Address (2015)
The Lost Gettysburg Address: Charles Anderson’s Civil War Odyssey by David T. Dixon. B-List History, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0986155109. $18.95. “The world with neither long note nor remember what we say...
Published: 3/23/16
HUFFSTODT: Lincoln’s Bold Lion (2015)
Lincoln’s Bold Lion: The Life and Times of Brigadier General Martin Davis Hardin by James T. Huffstodt. Casemate Publishers, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1612003399. $32.95. In Lincoln’s Bold Lion, fellow native Illinoisan James T....
Published: 3/16/16
MESCH: Teacher of Civil War Generals (2015)
Teacher of Civil War Generals: Major General Charles Ferguson Smith, Soldier and West Point Commandant by Allen H. Mesch. McFarland, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-0-7864-9834-5. $39.95. Arguably, the education provided at...
Published: 3/9/16
CANAVAN: Lincoln’s Final Hours (2015)
Lincoln’s Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America’s Greatest President by Kathryn Canavan. University Press of Kentucky, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0813166087. $29.95. Not a year goes by without several...
Published: 3/2/16
CHAMBERS: No God But Gain (2015)
No God But Gain: The Untold Story of Cuban Slavery, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Making of the United States by Stephen Chambers. Verso Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1781688076. $27.00. ...