Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review: Incidents in the Life of Cecilia Lawton: A Memoir of Plantation Life, War, and Reconstruction in Georgia and South Carolina

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Meg Groeling

Southerners get short shrift from historians lately. They represent ignorant, mean-spirited, small-minded types of people who prefer to let others do their work for them (if aristocratically inclined) or make up excuses as to why it is alright for some … Continue reading →

Posted in Antebellum South, Book Review, Books & Authors, Civilian, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Writing War and Reunion

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Steve Davis

Writing War and Reunion:  Selected Civil War and Reconstruction Newspaper Editorials by William Gilmore Simms Edited by Jeffery J. Rogers University of South Carolina Press, 2020, $59.99 hardcover Reviewed by Stephen Davis Thank goodness for the academy. Across the country, … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Six Days of Awful Fighting by Eric Wittenberg

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Doug Crenshaw

In his newest book, Eric Wittenberg has turned his prolific pen to a topic that has been unfortunately overlooked: the cavalry operations around Richmond during the 1864 Overland Campaign. Gordon Rhea gave the subject some much-needed attention in his book … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Civil War in Literature, Film, and Song

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Steve Davis

The Civil War in Literature, Film, and Song Edited by Chris Mackowski Southern Illinois University Press, 2020, $26.50 paperback. Reviewed by Stephen Davis When Chris Mackowski writes, in this engaging collection of essays, about “the Ken Burns effect,” he’s referring … Continue reading →

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Steve Davis to Serve as ECW’s New Book Review Editor

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Emerging Civil War

Emerging Civil War is pleased to announce that we are reinvigorating our book review services for readers. Toward that end we have acquired the services of Stephen Davis, of Cumming, Ga., as ECW Book Review Editor. Over the years Steve … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Books & Authors, Emerging Civil War | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

ECW’s January Bookshelf

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Emerging Civil War

Do you need some ideas about what books to read next from your collection? Look no further than the current list of what ECW’s members are reading this month! Let us know what books you are currently reading in the … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Wisconsin at Antietam: The Badger State’s Sacrifice on America’s Bloodiest Day

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Meg Groeling

Sometimes you just need everything in one place–background, analysis, good quotes, orders of battle, pertinent illustrations, some politics, maps, context, chapter notes, and an easy-to-use-index. From cover to cover, this little gem–Cal Schoonover’s Wisconsin at Antietam: The Badger State’s Sacrifice on … Continue reading →

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Book Review: “A Volunteer in the Regulars: The Civil War Journal and Memoir of Gilbert Thompson, US Engineer Battalion”

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Kevin Pawlak

Published soldiers’ letters and diaries are nothing new to Civil War bookshelves. But editor Mark A. Smith’s latest addition to The University of Tennessee Press’ Voices of the Civil War series stands out among thousands of enlisted men’s published letters, … Continue reading →

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Book Review: “Tullahoma: The Forgotten Campaign that Changed the Course of the Civil War, June 23—July 4, 1863”

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Ryan Quint

When one thinks about June-July 1863, inevitably Gettysburg and Vicksburg come to mind. Between the bloodiest battle of the war and Federal forces gaining control of the Mississippi River, that is understandable. But in the shadows of those two giant … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Patriots Twice: Former Confederates and the Building of America after the Civil War

Posted on November 12, 2020 by Meg Groeling

Luckily for readers, Stephen M. Hood is a good writer. He is a collateral descendant of Confederate General John Bell Hood and takes his self-imposed charge to restore his ancestors’ good name and those of other Confederates very seriously. Patriots Twice goes … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Ties to the War | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments