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: 4/15/15
STEERS: Lincoln’s Assassination (2014)
Lincoln’s Assassination by Edward Steers Jr. Southern Illinois University Press, 2014. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0809333493. $24.95. As the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War comes to an end, historians and...
Published: 4/8/15
GRAHAM: The Coal River Valley in the Civil War (2014)
The Coal River Valley in the Civil War: West Virginia Mountains, 1861 by Michael B. Graham. The History Press, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-1626196605. $19.99. The History Press, publisher of Michael B....
Published: 4/1/15
PARSON: Work for Giants (2014)
Work for Giants: The Campaign and Battle of Tupelo / Harrisburg, Mississippi, June-July 1864 by Thomas E. Parson. Kent State University Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1-60635-222-9. $39.95. The Tupelo Campaign offers...
Published: 4/1/15
MORIARTY: A Fine Body of Men (2014)
A Fine Body of Men: The Orleans Light Horse, Louisiana Cavalry, 1861-1865 by Donald Peter Moriarty II. The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-0917860676. $30.00. Writing the regimental history of...
Published: 3/25/15
MACKOWSKI & WHITE: That Furious Struggle (2014)
That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-4, 1863 by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White. Savas Beatie, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-1-61121-219-8. $12.95. The Chancellorsville Battlefield...
Published: 3/18/15
RUEF: Between Slavery and Capitalism (2014)
Between Slavery and Capitalism: The Legacy of Emancipation in the American South by Martin Ruef. Princeton University Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0691162775. $39.95. Martin Ruef opens Between Slavery and Capitalism with a simple...
Published: 3/11/15
UFFELMAN, KANERVO, SMITH, WILLIAMS (eds.): The Diary of Nannie Haskins Williams (2014)
The Diary of Nannie Haskins Williams: A Southern Woman’s Story of Rebellion and Reconstruction, 1863-1890 edited by Minoa D. Uffelman, Ellen Kanervo, Phyllis Smith, and Eleanor Williams. University of Tennessee Press,...
Published: 3/4/15
McPHERSON: Embattled Rebel (2014)
Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson. The Penguin Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1594204975. $32.95. Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina were tending their rose garden...
Published: 2/25/15
SHERBURNE: The St. Albans Raid (2014)
The St. Albans Raid: Confederate Attack on Vermont by Michelle Arnosky Sherburne. The History Press, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-1626196292. $19.99. For most northern observers, October 19, 1864, marked one of...
Published: 2/25/15
PRIEST: “Stand to It and Give Them Hell” (2014)
“Stand to It and Give Them Hell”: Gettysburg As The Soldiers Experienced It From Cemetery Ridge to Little Round Top, July 2, 1863 by John Michael Priest. Savas Beatie, 2014. Cloth,...
Published: 2/18/15
DOHREN (ed.): Letters from a Shoebox (2013)
Letters from a Shoebox: The Civil War Correspondence of John Huffman, David Huffman and William Bowman edited by Jim Dohren. Sunbury Press, 2013. Paper, ISBN: 978-1620062944. $14.95. Civil War historians...
Published: 2/11/15
ESCOTT: Lincoln’s Dilemma (2014)
Lincoln’s Dilemma: Blair, Sumner, and the Republican Struggle over Racism and Equality in the Civil War Era by Paul D. Escott. University of Virginia Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 978-0-8139-3619-2. $29.95 ...
Published: 2/11/15
KING: To Raise Up a Nation (2013)
To Raise Up a Nation: John Brown, Frederick Douglass, and the Making of a Free Country by William S. King. Westholme Publishing, 2013. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1594161919. $35.00. Early in William S....
Published: 2/4/15
SPENCER (ed.): A Connecticut Yankee in Lincoln’s Cabinet (2014)
A Connecticut Yankee in Lincoln’s Cabinet: Navy Secretary Gideon Welles Chronicles the Civil War edited by J. Ronald Spencer. The Acorn Club, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-0615961033. $24.95. Few primary source...
Published: 1/28/15
COOLING: Jubal Early (2014)
Jubal Early: Robert E. Lee’s “Bad Old Man” by Benjamin Franklin Cooling III. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014. Cloth, IBSN: 978-0810889132. $38.00. “My bad old man,” as Robert E. Lee once...
Published: 1/21/15
SUMMERS: The Ordeal of the Reunion (2014)
The Ordeal of the Reunion: A New History of Reconstruction by Mark Wahlgren Summers. University of North Carolina Press, 2014. Cloth, IBSN: 978-1469617572. $40.00. Reconstruction is the unwanted orphan of...
Published: 1/14/15
MURRAY: On a Great Battlefield (2014)
On a Great Battlefield: The Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-2013 by Jennifer M. Murray. University of Tennessee Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 978-1621900535. $49.00. How many people,...
Published: 1/7/15
RAFUSE: Manassas (2014)
Manassas: A Battlefield Guide by Ethan S. Rafuse. University of Nebraska Press, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 978-0803236431. $21.95. Ethan S. Rafuse’s Manassas: A Battlefield Guide is a latest volume in the University of Nebraska...