Booknotes III (November '11)

New Arrivals:

1. Tried Men and True, or Union Life in Dixie by Thomas Jefferson Cypert, edited by Margaret M. Storey (Univ of Ala Press, 2011).

East Tennessee unionists get all the press, but adherents to the old flag were present all over the state. Cypert, an officer in the 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry (US), penned this memoir (published here for the first time) to defend the actions of unionists during the war and to support their cause in the postwar political struggle. It is also a descriptive account of the irregular conflict in West Tennessee.

2. The Library of Congress Illustrated Timeline of the Civil War by Margaret E. Wagner (Little, Brown & Co., 2011).

This coffee table sized book, similar to a condensed The Civil War Day by Day but with more visual focus, is a chronological rendering of significant events from the war. The top half of each page is filled with captioned photos, maps, drawings, etc.

3. Soldiers of the Southern Cross: The Confederate Soldiers of Tallapoosa County, Alabama by William Gregory Wilson (Author, 2011 2nd ed.).

This is a documented narrative history and roster study of the county soldiers that served in many 'Bama units in the western and eastern theaters. Wilson has a web presence for the book here.

4. Views from the Dark Side of American History by Michael Fellman (LSU Press, 2011).

A collection of essays that taken together comprise something of a career memoir, this slim volume promises to be an personal look into the perspectives of a historian drawn to more disturbing subject matter.