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: 4/23/14
BLIGHT (ed.): My Bondage and My Freedom (2014)
My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass and edited by David W. Blight. Yale University Press, 2014. Paper, ISBN: 030019059X. $13.00. The public domain is a rich and growing trove...
Published: 4/23/14
LUEBKE (ed.): The Story of a Thousand (2011)
The Story of a Thousand, Being a History of the Service of the 105th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the War for the Union, from August 21, 1862, to June 6,...
Published: 4/2/14
DAL LAGO: William Lloyd Garrison and Giuseppe Mazzini (2013)
William Lloyd Garrison and Giuseppe Mazzini: Abolition, Democracy, and Radical Reform by Enrico Dal Lago. Louisiana State University Press, 2013. ISBN: 0807152064. $42.50. Enrico Dal Lago’s oeuvre demonstrates his breadth of...
Published: 3/26/14
KREISER: Defeating Lee (2011)
Defeating Lee: A History of the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac by Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr. Indiana University Press, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 0253356164. $34.95. From the slaughter in the West...
Published: 3/19/14
ADAMS: Living Hell (2014)
Living Hell: The Dark Side of the Civil War by Michael C.C. Adams. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 1421412217. $29.95. There is undoubtedly a turn toward the ‘dark side’...
Published: 3/12/14
LIVELY: Calamity at Chancellorsville (2013)
Calamity at Chancellorsville: The Wounding and Death of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson by Mathew W. Lively. Savas Beatie, 2013. Cloth, ISBN: 1611211387. $27.50. Calamity at Chancellorsville delves into the series of...
Published: 3/12/14
GLEESON: The Green and the Gray (2013)
The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America by David T. Gleeson. University of North Carolina Press, 2013. Cloth, ISBN: 1469607565. $35.00. This interesting new book...
Published: 2/26/14
ASH: The Black Experience in the Civil War South (2013)
The Black Experience in the Civil War South by Stephen V. Ash. Potomac Books, 2013. Paper, ISBN: 1612346294. $17.95. Stephen V. Ash’s The Black Experience in the Civil War South is a terrific introduction for...
Published: 2/19/14
EARLE & BURKE (eds.): Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri (2013)
Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border edited by Jonathan Earle and Diane Mutti Burke. University Press of Kansas, 2013. Paper. ISBN: 0700619291. $19.95. July 2013 brought...
Published: 2/12/14
SIMPSON: The Civil War in the East (2013)
The Civil War in the East: Struggle, Stalemate, and Victory by Brooks D. Simpson. Potomac Books, 2013. Paper, ISBN: 1612346286. $19.95. Scholars, students, and teachers should hail the appearance of Brooks...
Published: 2/5/14
McDANIEL: The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery (2013)
The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery: Garrisonian Abolitionists & Transatlantic Reform by W. Caleb McDaniel. Louisiana State University Press, 2013. Cloth, ISBN: 0807150185. $48.00. At first glance, Garrisonian...
Published: 1/29/14
LAUSE: Price’s Lost Campaign (2011)
Price’s Lost Campaign: The 1864 Invasion of Missouri by Mark A. Lause. University of Missouri Press, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 0826219497. $29.95. If the devil is truly in the details, Old Scratch...
Published: 1/15/14
THOMSON (ed.): We Are in His Hands Whether We Live or Die (2013)
We Are in His Hands Whether We Live or Die: The Letters of Brevet Brigadier General Charles Henry Howard, edited by David K. Thomson. University of Tennessee Press, 2013. Cloth,...
Published: 1/14/14
CONROY: Our One Common Country (2014)
Our One Common Country: Abraham Lincoln and the Hampton Roads Peace Conference of 1865 by James B. Conroy. Lyons Press, 2014. Cloth, ISBN: 0762778075. $27.95. I suppose that it’s rare to...
Published: 1/8/14
BORCHARD: Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley (2011)
Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley by Gregory A. Borchard. Southern Illinois University Press, 2011. Cloth, ISBN: 0809330458. $19.95. Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley is an installment in Southern Illinois University’s Concise...
Published: 1/8/14
HOLZER & GABBARD (eds.): 1863: Lincoln’s Pivotal Year (2013)
1863: Lincoln’s Pivotal Year edited by Harold Holzer and Sara Vaughn Gabbard. Southern Illinois University Press, 2013. Cloth, ISBN: 0809332469. $32.95. The year 1863 was pivotal to the American Civil War,...
Published: 1/1/14
HESS: The Knoxville Campaign (2012)
The Knoxville Campaign: Burnside and Longstreet in East Tennessee by Earl J. Hess. University of Tennessee Press, 2012. Cloth, ISBN: 1572339950. $29.95. The Confederate offensive to capture the Union-held city of...
Published: 1/1/14
WITTENBERG: Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg (2013)
Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg: The Battles of Brinkerhoff’s Ridge and East Cavalry Field, July 2-3, 1863 by Eric J. Wittenberg. Savas Beatie, 2013. Paper, ISBN: 1611210941. $16.95. Clausewitz tells us...