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: 4/13/22
Our Comfort in Dying (2021)
A look at the wartime sermons of a Confederate chaplain.
Published: 4/6/22
A House Built By Slaves (2022)
A detailed review of Jonathan W. White's "A House Built By Slaves," look at Abraham Lincoln’s treatment of African Americans.
Published: 4/5/22
To Address You as My Friend (2021)
A detailed review of "To Address You as My Friend," a collection of Civil War writings from African Americans to Abraham Lincoln.
Published: 3/30/22
Elusive Utopia (2018)
An "archetype for well-researched monographs that remain accessible ... for a wide readership."
Published: 3/23/22
Civil War Witnesses and Their Books (2021)
A deep dive into first-person accounts of the Civil War.
Published: 3/16/22
Ends of War (2021)
A "beautifully written and engaging" examination of the Civil War's immediate aftermath.
Published: 3/9/22
The Horse at Gettysburg (2021)
A "detailed and enlightening" book about the role horses played at the epic 1863 battle.
Published: 3/2/22
Contesting Commemoration (2021)
A detailed review of Jack Noe's "Contesting Commemoration," a look at how Americans experienced the country's Centennial in 1876.
Published: 2/15/22
Bulldozed and Betrayed (2021)
An "absolutely marvelous book" about a controversial period in American history
Published: 2/9/22
My Work Among the Freedmen (2021)
History seems all too seldom interested in basically “good” people, and historians often emphasize ambiguity, complexity, or irony in describing historical actors or crafting biographies. The editors of My Work...
Published: 2/2/22
Rebel Salvation (2021)
Reconstruction is often depicted as a political and policy battle between “Presidential Reconstruction,” led by President Andrew Johnson and “Congressional Reconstruction,” advocated by Radical Republicans in the United States Congress....
Published: 1/26/22
Untouched by the Conflict (2019)
More than two million young men left their civilian lives, donned blue woolen uniforms, shouldered arms, and served in the Union army during the Civil War. Many Dickinson College alumni...
Published: 1/19/22
Teacher, Preacher, Soldier, Spy (2021)
Born along the middle border in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1831 and dying on the “closing” Colorado frontier in 1891, John R. Kelso lived what can only be described as...
Published: 1/12/22
The Cacophony of Politics (2021)
When Roy Franklin Nichols penned the final chapters of his formidable classic, The Disruption of American Democracy, he wrote that “the Democratic party seemed in desperate straits. The war which...
Published: 1/5/22
Rites of Retaliation (2021)
By the fall of 1862, Jefferson Davis believed he had found a way to control the Union Army. That summer General John Pope had led an army into Virginia, issuing...
Published: 12/29/21
Stephen A. Swails (2021)
A short but satisfying biography of a trailblazing soldier in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry
Published: 12/22/21
Robert E. Lee (2021)
A review of Allen C. Guelzo's welcome new biography of Robert E. Lee.
Published: 12/15/21
Searching for Irvin McDowell (2021)
An "interesting" biography of a controversial Union general.