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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Pair of early releases

When I started doing this back in 2005 it wasn't uncommon to receive a finished copy of a book from a major press up to two months before general release and have my review done long before the manuscript hit the bookstores. Those days are long gone and it's more of a rare pleasure to find a book I've been looking forward to actually get released pretty far in advance of the initial street date. This is the case for a pair of anticipated titles:

Citizen-General: Jacob Dolson Cox and the Civil War Era by Eugene Schmiel and Ethan Rafuse's Manassas: A Battlefield Guide.

Nebraska's This Hallowed Ground is my preferred guide series and FBR is my favorite eastern theater battle to study so that combo makes it a must-read for me. I'm sure Harry is excited, too. For the SBR people, that's in there as well. If I had to choose a favorite Union "political general" it would be Jacob Cox, who could use a good military biography, and I have high hopes for Schmiel's book. Apparently, both will soon be on their way to me.

4 comments:

  1. John FoskettMarch 27, 2014 at 10:36 AM

    Drew: I agree on the preference for the THG series, although the "War College" series and its siblings are good complementary guides. And yes, we "SBR" people also look forward to this one (spoken as someone who has unsuccessfully tried to persuade Harry to start a Second Bull Runnings blog).

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    Replies
    1. DW@CWBAMarch 27, 2014 at 4:09 PM

      I would love to see UNCP use the 2013 Reardon & Vossler GB guide as a series template.

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    2. DW@CWBAMarch 27, 2014 at 4:10 PM

      John,
      Did you pick up the Spruills's SBR guide from last fall?

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    3. John FoskettMarch 28, 2014 at 8:10 AM

      Drew: I did. As i indicated, I slightly prefer the Nebraska guides but find both formats useful (a little more modern and focused tactical insight in THG, more tie-in to contemporary observation in the "War College" format). And I agree on the Reardon & Vossler template. I'm just not sure whether that high-end/color photo/etc. approach would make economic sense for a publisher to expand beyond a certain battle in Pennsylvania. I'm one of those who believes that you can sell a box of used dirt if the cover contains the name "Gettysburg".

      Delete

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