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: 11/4/15
MARTELLE: The Madman and the Assassin (2015)
The Madman and the Assassin: The Strange Life of Boston Corbett, the Man Who Killed John Wilkes Booth by Scott Martelle. Chicago Review Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1613730188. $24.95 This...
Published: 10/28/15
HESTER (ed.): A Yankee Scholar in Coastal South Carolina (2015)
A Yankee Scholar in Coastal South Carolina: William Francis Allen’s Civil War Journals edited by James Robert Hester. University of South Carolina Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1611174960. $49.95. The so-called...
Published: 10/21/15
COOK (ed.): A Quiet Corner of the War (2014)
A Quiet Corner of the War: The Civil War Letters of Gilbert and Esther Claflin, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, 1862-1863 by Gilbert Claflin and Esther Claflin and edited by Judy Cook. University of...
Published: 10/14/15
MAY: Slavery, Race, and Conquest in the Tropics (2013)
Slavery, Race, and Conquest in the Tropics: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Future of Latin America by Robert E. May. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Paper, ISBN: 978-0521132527. $26.99. For decades, scholars...
Published: 10/7/15
CHANDLER: The Last Days of the Confederacy in Northeast Georgia (2015)
The Last Days of the Confederacy in Northeast Georgia by Ray Chandler. The History Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-1626193444. $19.99. One might not think of northeast Georgia as an ideal...
Published: 9/30/15
DOWNS: After Appomattox (2015)
After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War by Gregory P. Downs. Harvard University Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0674743984. $32.95. When exactly did the Civil War end? This seemingly...
Published: 9/23/15
MYERS: Rebels Against the Confederacy (2014)
Rebels Against the Confederacy: North Carolina’s Unionists by Barton A. Myers. Cambridge University Press, 2014. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1107075245. $90.00. Barton Myers’s new study of North Carolina’s unionists during the Civil...
Published: 9/16/15
HUSTON: The British Gentry, The Southern Planter, and the Northern Family Farmer (2015)
The British Gentry, The Southern Planter, and the Northern Family Farmer: Agriculture and Sectional Antagonism in North America by James L. Huston. Louisiana State University Press, 2015. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0807159187. $47.50....
Published: 9/9/15
HESS: Civil War Infantry Tactics (2015)
Civil War Infantry Tactics: Training, Combat, and Small-Unit Effectiveness by Earl J. Hess. Louisiana State University Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN 978-0807159378. $45.00. Of all the Union generals of the Civil...
Published: 9/2/15
SOLONICK: Engineering Victory (2015)
Engineering Victory: The Union Siege of Vicksburg by Justin Solonick. Southern Illinois University Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0-8093-3391-2. $37.50. On July 4, 1863, after enduring a 47-day siege, Confederate forces under...
Published: 8/26/15
CONANT (ed.): The Gettysburg Address (2015)
The Gettysburg Address: Perspectives on Lincoln’s Greatest Speech edited by Sean Conant. Oxford University Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-0190227456. $24.95. Sean Conant has amassed an impressive array of contributors for...
Published: 8/26/15
SZASZ: Lincoln and Religion (2014)
Lincoln and Religion by Ferenc Morton Szasz with Margaret Connell Szasz. Southern Illinois University Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0809333219. $24.95. A perennial question about Abraham Lincoln is the nature of his...
Published: 8/19/15
DEAN: An Agrarian Republic (2015)
An Agrarian Republic: Farming, Antislavery Politics, and Nature Parks in the Civil War Era by Adam Wesley Dean. University of North Carolina Press, 2015. Paper, ISBN: 978-1469619910. $29.95. Adam Wesley...
Published: 8/12/15
DAVIS: Crucible of Command (2015)
Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee—The War They Fought, The Peace They Forged by William C. Davis. Da Capo Press, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0306822452. $32.50. The...
Published: 8/5/15
HOOD (ed.): The Lost Papers of Confederate General John Bell Hood (2015)
The Lost Papers of Confederate General John Bell Hood edited by Stephen M. Hood. Savas Beatie, 2015. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1-61121-182-5. $32.95. In 2012, author Stephen M. Hood revealed the existence...
Published: 7/25/15
MASUR: Lincoln’s Last Speech (2015)
Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion by Louis P. Masur. Oxford University Press, 2015. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0190218393. $24.95. It has long been observed that scholarly works...
Published: 7/22/15
SUDEROW & HOUSE: The Battle of Pilot Knob (2014)
The Battle of Pilot Knob: Thunder in Arcadia Valley by Bryce A. Suderow and R. Scott House. Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-0990353027. $20.00. The lovely Arcadia...
Published: 7/8/15
DRAKE (ed.): The Blue, the Gray, and the Green (2015)
The Blue, the Gray, and the Green: Toward an Environmental History of the Civil War edited by Brian Allen Drake. University of Georgia Press, 2015. Paper, IBSN: 978-0820347158. $22.95. A...