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: 8/31/22
W.G. (2022)
A look at the life of a fascinating Civil War-era character.
Published: 8/24/22
Only the Clothes on Her Back (2022)
A detailed review of Laura F. Edwards' "Only the Clothes on Her Back," a look at the lives of everyday Americans in the early republic.
Published: 8/17/22
Been in the Storm So Long (1979)
On the one-year anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize winning scholar Leon F. Litwack’s death, historian Evan C. Jones offers this extended retrospective on Litwack’s magnum opus. Throughout the nineteenth...
Published: 8/10/22
Dreams of Victory (2022)
A well-written introduction to the life and career of the famed Louisiana general.
Published: 7/27/22
A Failed Vision of Empire (2022)
A detailed review of Daniel J. Burge's "A Failed Vision of Empire," a reconsideration of the concept of Manifest Destiny in American history.
Published: 7/20/22
All for the Union (2022)
A New York family fights the Civil War.
Published: 7/13/22
In The Houses of Their Dead (2022)
A detailed review of Terry Alford's "In the Houses of Their Dead," a study of spiritualism in the Civil War era.
Published: 7/6/22
To Walk About in Freedom (2022)
A remarkable microhistory centered around one formerly enslaved woman’s postwar interview.
Published: 6/29/22
Gettysburg (2022)
A compilation of postwar accounts about the epic 1863 battle.
Published: 6/22/22
Invisible Wounds (2021)
A detailed review of "Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness and Civil War Soldiers" by Dillon J. Carroll.
Published: 6/15/22
Spectacle of Grief (2022)
A study of public funerals during the Civil War era.
Published: 6/8/22
Gettysburg’s Lost Love Story (2022)
The story of an ill-fated Civil War-era romance.
Published: 6/1/22
Love & Duty (2022)
An exploration of widowhood in the Civil War-era South.
Published: 5/25/22
Salmon P. Chase (2022)
A deep dive into the life of Lincoln's treasury secretary.
Published: 5/18/22
Back From Battle (2021)
“Camp Discharge never got its monument,” writes Jim Remsen. “If it weren’t for the military records, memoirs, and news clippings, one could think the place never existed.” Fortunately for the...
Published: 5/11/22
Hell’s Half-Acre (2022)
A detailed review of Susan Jonusas' "Hell's Half-Acre," a book about the serial-killing Bender Family of Western folklore.
Published: 5/4/22
Harriet Tubman (2022)
A new biography of the iconic American freedom fighter.
Published: 4/20/22
First Fallen (2021)
A detailed review of Meg Groeling's "First Fallen," a biography of 11th New York Infantry colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth.