Booknotes (February '10 )

New additions this month:

1. Lincoln on Trial: Southern Civilians and the Law of War by Burrus M. Carnahan (Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2010).

Carnahan, a retired JAG officer and George Washington Law School lecturer, offers his own interpretation of the morality and legality of Lincoln's war measures (as applied to southern civilians) in the context of the president's own time.

2. 'The Personal Observations of a Man of Intelligence': Notes of a Tour in North America in 1861 by James Fergusson, edited by Ben Wynne (True Bill Press, 2009).

Sir James Fergusson was a Scottish MP that embarked on a 3-month tour of Canada and the U.S. during the summer of 1861. His report predicted a Confederate victory, and he also urged British intervention. I'll be most interested in reading his assessments of Canadian public opinion and the state of its defenses in the event of war.

3. British Ships in the Confederate Navy by Joseph McKenna (McFarland, 2010).

This is a history of British involvement in the Confederate Navy and the three-way diplomatic fight that it spawned, with an emphasis on the ships heavily crewed by British citizens.

4. Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby by James A. Ramage (Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2010).

UPK is joining a number of other university presses in reissuing paperback editions of classic titles, new and old. This one was original published in hardcover in 1999 (same publisher).