Booknotes IV (March '14)

New Arrivals:

1. From These Honored Dead: Historical Archaeology of the American Civil War
edited by Clarence R. Geier, Douglas D. Scott & Lawrence E. Babits (UP of Florida, 2014).

I'm always excited when UPF publishes another set of archaeological studies of battlefields, bivouacs, camps, logistical features, and forts. These material investigations frequently come up with interesting conclusions at variance with the document-based historical record. This particular volume examines sites across all three major theaters.

2. Civil War: The Untold Story (Athena DVD set - 5 eps, 276 min., 2014).

"Using dramatic battle recreations, compelling archival imagery, 3-D maps, and insightful interviews with top Civil War scholars, this five-part series shows why the West played such a vital part in the outcome of the war."

3. Suffer and Grow Strong: The Life of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, 1834-1907 by Carolyn Newton Curry (Mercer UP, 2014).

Both born into and married to wealth, Thomas was a native Georgian ruined by the Civil War. After the war, like many of her class, she ran a school and boardinghouse out of her mansion to make ends meet, but her standout career was as a leader in the temperance and women's rights movements. Her diaries totaling 450k words and numerous publications provide her biographer with an abundance of public and private material.