Tag Archives: Book Review

Book Review: The Families’ Civil War: Black Soldiers and the Fight for Racial Justice

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Meg Groeling

As Civil War history becomes more specific, books like Holly Pinheiro’s The Families’ Civil War use case studies of particular groups to show readers how the methods of microhistory are well-suited for issues relating to minorities, ethnicity, race, and gender. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Colonels in Blue: A Civil War Biographical Dictionary – U.S. Colored Troops, Armed Forces, Staff Officers and Special Units by Roger D. Hunt

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Jon-Erik Gilot

With some notable exceptions, Civil War colonels are frequently overlooked in our historiography in favor of those officers of higher rank. Even so, attrition often resulted in colonels commanding numbers of men far beyond their military experience or pay grade, … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Civil War in Maryland Reconsidered

Posted on November 3, 2022 by ECW Guest Post

Reviewed by Zachery A. Fry Among the more common images in Civil War political history is that of Maryland being held in the Union at the point of the bayonet. That traditional view—Maryland loyalty enforced by cold steel—highlights a military … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Brian Matthew Jordan

This handsomely produced, visually stunning book “examines the public’s memory of the Civil War and how the presence and lack of images of black soldiers influence our modern perceptions of the war in the archive.” Carefully curating a vast collection … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Wharton’s War

Posted on August 19, 2022 by Steve Davis

Gabriel Colvin Wharton, Virginia-born in 1824, ranks among the Confederacy’s 425 generals, but not among those best-known. Or illustrious, for that matter, despite a colorful Confederate career. VMI-trained, he was elected major in the 45th Virginia. He then raised the … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Decisions at Perryville: The Twenty-Two Critical Decisions That Defined the Battle

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Meg Groeling

Okay, everyone–get out the sandbox and the toy soldiers! The University of Tennessee Press has added Perryville to its series “Command Decisions in America’s Civil War.” Although part of the 1862 Kentucky Campaign, series editors decided that the battle of … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Benjamin Butler’s Noisy, Fearless Life

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Sean Michael Chick

Andrew Jackson once said, “I was born for the storm, and a calm does not suit me.” The same could have been said by one of Jackson’s admirers, Benjamin Butler. He was accused throughout his career of rank opportunism, incompetence, … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Meg Groeling

Gene Eric Salecker’s Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana: The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History is a combination of modern and historical who-done-it writing. It is as good as it gets! This book, at first glance, is a carefully researched discussion of the … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Lincoln and Native Americans

Posted on July 22, 2022 by Derek Maxfield

Of all aspects of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, one of the least considered is his policy toward Native Americans. His tenure, was, of course, dominated by the Civil War – and yet an examination of the rail-splitter’s attitudes towards Indigenous Americans … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War’s Final Campaign in North Carolina

Posted on July 19, 2022 by Brian Matthew Jordan

On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered what remained of the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. But Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee—a much larger rebel force—remained in the field in North … Continue reading →

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