Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review: A Union Woman in Civil War Kentucky: The Diary of Frances Peter

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Meg Groeling

Reviewed by Meg Groeling Every time a new diary or memoir of someone who lived through the American Civil War is published, history comes incrementally closer to understanding the war that continues to define us as a nation. The 2021 … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Primary Sources | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of the American Civil War

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Steve Davis

A good reference book bears several elements, beginning with its title: The Oxford Handbook of the American Civil War thus telegraphs its purpose. Another is heft: this one has 675 pages. Third is a big raft of contributors, and recognizable … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Cedar Mountain to Antietam, A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July – September 1862

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Phill Greenwalt

  If one is familiar with a Savas Beatie publication, the reader understands a few prerequisites. The book will be well-researched and include historical analysis that enhances and expands ones knowledge base into another aspect of America’s military past. Author … Continue reading →

Posted in Arms & Armaments, Book Review, Campaigns, Emerging Civil War, Leadership--Federal | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Book Review: Gettysburg’s Lost Love Story: The Ill-Fated Romance of General John Reynolds and Kate Hewitt

Posted on April 27, 2022 by Sheritta Bitikofer

I’m a sucker for a good love story. One of the most mysterious love stories in Civil War history unfolded on the battlefield at Gettysburg. Leading the First Corps on the morning of July 1, 1863, Major General John Reynolds … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Emerging Civil War | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Book Review: Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee’s Army after Appomattox

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Steve Davis

Caroline Janney is a rising star in the literature of Confederate war-memory. At UVA she wrote her dissertation, “The Ladies Memorial Associations of Virginia” under Gary Gallagher. She drew from it for an essay in Peter Wallenstein and Bertram Wyatt-Brown, … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Lincoln’s Northern Nemesis: The War Opposition and Exile of Ohio’s Clement Vallandigham

Posted on March 29, 2022 by Jon-Erik Gilot

Ohio produced no shortage of Civil War luminaries. On one end of the spectrum, you have names like Grant, Sherman, Sheridan (sort of), Hayes, Rosecrans, and Garfield. And on the other…Clement Vallandigham. Even after 160 years, Vallandigham remains the name … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Books & Authors | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Slavery: Interpreting American History

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Jon Tracey

In Slavery: Interpreting American History, editors Aaron Astor and Thomas C. Buchanan have compiled an impressive volume that succinctly explores the changing interpretations of slavery. This is not so much a history of American slavery as it is a history … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Book Review: Confederates and Comancheros, Skullduggery and Double-Dealing in the Texas-New Mexico Borderlands

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Phill Greenwalt

  “Skullduggery,” the word graces the cover and the third paragraph of the introduction to this detailed study that highlights a very niche component of the American Civil War and the frontier establishment of the American southwest. Authors and historians … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Memory, Trans-Mississippi | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Book Review: Invisible Wounds

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Meg Groeling

Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness and Civil War Soldiers By Dillon J. Carroll Louisiana State University Press, 2021, $45 hardcover Reviewed by Meg Groeling In the last ten or so years there have been a nice handful of books written about … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Civil War Witnesses and Their Books: New Perspectives on Iconic Works

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Sean Michael Chick

Civil War Witnesses and Their Books: New Perspectives on Iconic Works Edited by Gary W. Gallagher & Stephen Cushman Louisiana State University Press 2021 $45 hardcover Reviewed by Sean Michael Chick If there are two things we seem assured to … Continue reading →

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