tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-164710732024-03-18T12:32:46.007-07:00Civil War Books and AuthorsNon-fiction American Civil War book reviews, commentary, industry news, interviews, reading lists, and profiles of upcoming releases.DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.comBlogger3548125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-7299674911482593252024-03-18T08:58:00.000-07:002024-03-18T09:01:27.211-07:00Book News: UNION "Tales of the War" in the Trans-MississippiCamp Pope Publishing's Unwritten Chapters of the Civil War West of the River series, edited by Michael Banasik, is a great personal favorite of mine, its volumes chock full of invaluable first-person accounts, documents, maps, copious editorial notes, detailed orders of battle, and more. Volume VII of the series, Confederate "Tales of the War" in the Trans-Mississippi, was released in five parts DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-21564570953108785812024-03-15T08:01:00.000-07:002024-03-15T08:01:03.636-07:00Booknotes: Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil WarNew Arrival:
• Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War by William Nelson Fox (Arcadia Pub and The Hist Press, 2024).
Through both central government edict and an earnest desire to participate in the biggest battles on the most active fronts, Texans fought in all three major theaters of war. Doing so, however, stretched the state's manpower and materiel resources so thin that countering threats DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-57814782846549533442024-03-13T09:42:00.000-07:002024-03-13T09:42:53.324-07:00Review - "Decisions of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign: The Sixteen Critical Decisions That Defined the Operation" by Robert Tanner [Decisions of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign: The Sixteen Critical Decisions That Defined the Operation by Robert G. Tanner (University of Tennessee Press, 2023). Softcover, 17 maps, photos, illustrations, appendix section, notes, bibliography, index. Pages:xviii,200. ISBN:978-1-62190-769-5. $29.95]
University of Tennessee Press's Command Decisions in America's Civil War continues to DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-40555882351728868272024-03-10T08:25:00.000-07:002024-03-10T08:25:19.378-07:00Booknotes: Campaigns of a Non-CombatantNew Arrival:
• Campaigns of a Non-Combatant: The Memoir of a Civil War Correspondent by George A. Townsend, ed. by Jeffrey R. Biggs (Hardtack Bks, 2024).
From the description: "George Alfred Townsend was a special war correspondent for the Philadelphia Press and New York Herald during the Civil War. He followed McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and Pope’s Army of Virginia in the spring and DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-82886698838669869222024-03-06T08:05:00.000-08:002024-03-06T08:05:27.917-08:00Booknotes: From Frederick to SharpsburgNew Arrival:
• From Frederick to Sharpsburg: People, Places, and Events of the Maryland Campaign Before Antietam by Steven R. Stotelmyer (Antietam Inst, 2023).
In its own words, the Antietam Institute "is a member centered organization with a mission to educate the public on the critical importance of the Battle of Antietam and the 1862 Maryland Campaign," and book and journal publication is a DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-79140681914500485372024-03-04T09:30:00.000-08:002024-03-04T09:30:16.050-08:00Review - "The World Will Never See the Like: The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913" John Hopkins[The World Will Never See the Like: The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913 John L. Hopkins (Savas Beatie, 2024). Hardcover, photos, footnotes, appendix, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:x,182/208. ISBN:978-161121-684-4. $32.95]
In the summer of 1913, an estimated 53,000 elderly Civil War veterans in their 70s and 80s arrived at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for a national commemoration of the great DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-82376671230573166452024-02-29T07:47:00.000-08:002024-02-29T07:47:51.163-08:00Coming Soon (March '24 Edition)
Scheduled for MAR 20241:
• J.E.B. Stuart: The Soldier and the Man by Edward Longacre.
• Tabernacles in the Wilderness: The US Christian Commission on the Civil War Battlefront by Rachel Williams.
• Germantown during the Civil War Era: A Reversal of Fortune by George Browder.
• The War That Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher ed. by Janney, Carmichael, and DeanDW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-42432307296739318272024-02-27T09:43:00.000-08:002024-02-27T09:43:26.556-08:00Booknotes: J.E.B. StuartNew Arrival:
• J.E.B. Stuart: The Soldier and the Man by Edward G. Longacre (Savas Beatie, 2024).
Serious biographical coverage of the life and Civil War career of James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart is solid enough, though one would think the overall number produced would be more befitting of his historical popularity and stature. I haven't read the pre-Centennial titles from Thomason and Davis, DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-61074468690977050162024-02-26T07:31:00.000-08:002024-02-26T07:31:07.694-08:00Booknotes: The Old War HorseNew Arrival:
• The Old War Horse: The USS Benton on Western Waters, 1853-1865 by Myron J. Smith, Jr. (McFarland, 2024).
Though they looked roughly similar from afar and shared a common construction thread in the personage of talented and successful engineer, inventor, and businessman James B. Eads, the origins of the ironclad gunboat USS Benton were very different from those of the famous City DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-17425207701222001532024-02-22T08:44:00.000-08:002024-02-22T08:44:15.255-08:00Review - "The Folly and the Madness: The Civil War Letters of Captain Orlando S. Palmer, Fifteenth Arkansas Infantry" edited by Thomas Cutrer[The Folly and the Madness: The Civil War Letters of Captain Orlando S. Palmer, Fifteenth Arkansas Infantry edited by Thomas W. Cutrer (University of Tennessee Press, 2023). Softcover, 4 maps, photos, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:154/230. ISBN:978-1-62190-841-8. $39]
The Folly and the Madness: The Civil War Letters of Captain Orlando S. Palmer, Fifteenth Arkansas DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-14598784260898077942024-02-19T08:18:00.000-08:002024-02-19T08:18:05.215-08:00Booknotes: Thunder in the HarborNew Arrival:
• Thunder in the Harbor: Fort Sumter and the Civil War by Richard W. Hatcher, III (Savas Beatie, 2024).
The crisis that developed around Fort Sumter during the momentous "Secession Winter" of 1860-61 and the bombardment and surrender of the Charleston Harbor facility in April 1861 have been explored in several full-length studies, some of them quite good. Richard Hatcher's Thunder DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-17557794934630836692024-02-16T09:39:00.000-08:002024-02-16T09:39:29.020-08:00Review - "Yankee Commandos: How William P. Sanders Led a Cavalry Squadron Deep into Confederate Territory" by Stuart Brandes[Yankee Commandos: How William P. Sanders Led a Cavalry Squadron Deep into Confederate Territory by Stuart D. Brandes (University of Tennessee Press, 2023). Hardcover, 7 maps, photos, illustrations, chronology, notes, appendix section, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xi,205/329. ISBN978-1-62190-746-6. $34.95]
It is difficult to understate the significance of Tennessee's white Unionists DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-15573425378992587132024-02-14T10:14:00.000-08:002024-02-14T10:16:44.427-08:00Booknotes: Our People Are WarlikeNew Arrival:
• Our People Are Warlike: Civil War Pittsburgh and Home-Front Mobilization by Allen Christopher York (U Tenn Press, 2023).
When you operate a book review site for nearly two decades, you really notice how faddish Civil War publishing can be. While the popularity of Civil War urban studies may have faded a bit from wider view, examples continue to pop up on occasion. One released DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-88966360167064879562024-02-12T07:07:00.000-08:002024-02-12T07:07:33.555-08:00Booknotes: The Cassville AffairsNew Arrival:
• The Cassville Affairs: Johnston, Hood, and the Failed Confederate Strategy in the Atlanta Campaign, 19 May 1864 by Robert D. Jenkins, Sr. (Mercer UP, 2024).
With a title like The Cassville Affairs you're getting either a very British Cold War spy drama starring Michael Caine or a new look at an important and controversial episode in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign. Thankfully, at DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-61725422387606712982024-02-09T08:14:00.000-08:002024-02-09T08:14:43.253-08:00Booknotes: Decisions of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley CampaignNew Arrival:
• Decisions of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign: The Sixteen Critical Decisions That Defined the Operation by Robert G. Tanner (U Tenn Press, 2023).
From the description: "The Shenandoah Valley Campaign, often referred to as Jackson’s Valley Campaign, saw Gen. Stonewall Jackson lead fewer than seventeen thousand Confederate soldiers on a 464-mile march that defeated three DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-42205581941748859892024-02-07T09:07:00.000-08:002024-02-07T09:07:13.142-08:00Review - "Confederates from Canada: John Yates Beall and the Rebel Raids on the Great Lakes" by Ralph Lindeman[Confederates from Canada: John Yates Beall and the Rebel Raids on the Great Lakes by Ralph Lindeman (McFarland, 2023). Softcover, maps, photos, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:x,201/240. ISBN:978-1-4766-9278-4. $39.95]
In yet another one of those seemingly unlikely coincidences of Civil War publishing, two titles featuring the exploits, trial, and execution of Confederate maritimeDW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-10374028415518008472024-02-05T10:12:00.000-08:002024-02-05T10:12:05.171-08:00Booknotes: Here's a Letter from Thy Dear SonNew Arrival:
• Here's a Letter from Thy Dear Son: Letters of a Georgia Family During the Civil War Era edited by Edward H. Pulliam (Mercer UP, 2024).
From the description: Here's a Letter from Thy Dear Son "provides a personal, primary-source exploration of the Civil War era from several different perspectives in an unusually full and informative narrative. Through the intimacy of personal DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-63107744152868367822024-02-02T09:35:00.000-08:002024-02-02T09:35:16.653-08:00Booknotes: Miserable Little ConglomerationNew Arrival:
• Miserable Little Conglomeration: A Social History of the Port Hudson Campaign by Christopher Thrasher (U Tenn Press, 2023).
This is the second major Port Hudson title to come out of UTP within the past few years, the first, Larry Hewitt's astounding photographic collection and history, being my Book of the Year for 2021. As its subtitle suggests, Christopher Thrasher's Miserable DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-21282823720111732142024-01-31T13:26:00.000-08:002024-01-31T13:26:33.458-08:00Review - "The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West" by Timothy Smith[The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West by Timothy B. Smith (Louisiana State University Press, 2023). Hardcover, 6 maps, photos, notes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xxii,183/244. ISBN:978-0-8071-8048-8. $39.95]
A tantalizing host of high-ranking officers deemed promising before the Civil War and during its early years were killed in action over theDW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-72763578927247398522024-01-29T08:11:00.000-08:002024-01-29T08:11:22.801-08:00Booknotes: Yankee CommandosNew Arrival:
• Yankee Commandos: How William P. Sanders Led a Cavalry Squadron Deep into Confederate Territory by Stuart D. Brandes (U Tenn Press, 2023).
From the earliest months of the Civil War, succoring the isolated pro-Union population of East Tennessee was a high priority for the Lincoln administration, which frequently pressed its western generals to send an occupation force into the DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-30764456520778129182024-01-28T10:17:00.000-08:002024-01-28T10:21:57.069-08:00Coming Soon (February '24 Edition)
Scheduled for FEB 20241:
• Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas by Welch & Pawlak.
• Unforgettables: Winners, Losers, Strong Women, and Eccentric Men of the Civil War Era by John Waugh.
• Virginia Secedes: A Documentary History by Dwight Pitcaithley.
• Adelbert Ames, the Civil War, and the Creation of Modern America by Michael Megelsh.
• Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-66073083239199211022024-01-26T08:32:00.000-08:002024-01-26T08:32:49.470-08:00Booknotes: The World Will Never See the LikeNew Arrival:
• The World Will Never See the Like: The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913 John L. Hopkins (Savas Beatie, 2024).
From the description: "The 1913 Gettysburg reunion is a story of 53,000 old comrades and former foes reunited, and of the tension, even half a century later, between competing narratives of reconciliation and remembrance. For seven days the old soldiers lived under canvas in DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-19743209181607439752024-01-24T09:18:00.000-08:002024-01-24T09:18:10.294-08:00Booknotes: The Boy Generals, Vol. 2New Arrival:
• The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Gettysburg Retreat Through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 by Adolfo Ovies (Savas Beatie, 2024).
Author Adolfo Ovies is currently in the middle of a three-part examination of the wartime progression of the cavalry arm of the Army of the Potomac, all viewed through the DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-44811626293104155702024-01-23T10:07:00.000-08:002024-01-23T10:07:03.016-08:00Booknotes: Decisions at Kennesaw MountainNew Arrival:
• Decisions at Kennesaw Mountain: The Eleven Critical Decisions That Defined the Battle by Larry Peterson (U Tenn Press, 2023).
Given how much attention has been paid to it on this site over the past few years, it's readily apparent that I am a fan of this series. A number of installments were published in 2023, the ones with missed coverage being Franklin, 1862 Shenandoah CampaignDW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16471073.post-86722739225343562682024-01-22T17:48:00.000-08:002024-01-22T17:48:40.286-08:00Booknotes: The Folly and the MadnessNew Arrival:
• The Folly and the Madness: The Civil War Letters of Captain Orlando S. Palmer, Fifteenth Arkansas Infantry edited by Thomas W. Cutrer (U Tenn Press, 2023).
When it comes to new releases, December and January have been pretty bleak months of slippery trips to an empty mailbox. It looks like things are finally looking up, though. Big thanks to the new marketing crew at UTP for DW@CWBAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018056113264346047noreply@blogger.com0