Booknotes II (March '11)

New Arrivals:

1. Fighting Stock: John S. "Rip" Ford of Texas by Richard B. McCaslin (TCU Press, 2011).

Two of the first three volumes of TCU's The Texas Biography Series have examined the lives of Civil War figures. Each book in the series makes a concerted effort to bring its subject's entire life into focus. However, while the Civil War period of Texas unionist general and post-war governor Edmund Davis's interesting life was only briefly addressed in his biographical treatment, McCaslin devotes far more attention to John Salmon "Rip" Ford's Confederate service along the Texas-Mexican border in command of the 2nd Texas Cavalry.

2. Tejanos in Gray: Civil War Letters of Captains Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri edited by Jerry D. Thompson (TAMU Press, 2011).

When it comes to publishing primary source material on the Civil War in the southwest, Jerry Thompson is the go to historian. This edited volume reproduces 41 letters and fragments written by a pair of Mexican Texan Confederate officers from San Antonio.

3. History of Andersonville Prison, Revised Edition by Ovid L. Futch (Univ Pr of Florida, 2011).

This book was first published in 1968. The revised edition has a new introduction by historian Michael P. Gray.