Booknotes IV (April '14)

New Arrivals:

1. I Do Wish This Cruel War Was Over: First-Person Accounts of Civil War Arkansas from the Arkansas Historical Quarterly edited by Mark K. Christ and Patrick G. Williams (Univ of Ark Pr, 2014).

For over 70 years, AHQ has been publishing military and civilian letters, diaries, and memoirs from the Civil War. Selected for their relevance to the war within Arkansas's borders, this collection of pieces old and new benefits from Christ's own value-added annotations and transitional narrative. Looks like another winner for the T-M theater student.

2. No Turning Back: A Guide to the 1864 Overland Campaign, from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May 4 - June 13, 1864 by by Robert M. Dunkerly, Donald C. Pfanz & David R. Ruth (Savas Beatie, 2014).

Like the other books in the Emerging Civil War series, this is a nice looking high-level touring guide. It covers a lot of geography, taking the reader from the Wilderness through the James River crossing. The authors have a strong professional connection to the campaign, with Pfanz spending much of his career at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP and Dunkerly and Ruth employed at Richmond NBP as park ranger and superintendent respectively. The promo sheet says 6 maps but there are 25 by my count.

3. The 72nd New York Infantry in the Civil War: A History and Roster by Rick Barram (McFarland, 2014).

Part of the cool sounding Excelsior Brigade, the 72nd fought in many a bloody battle with the III Corps. The roster is a detailed compilation but the bibliography looks pretty limited overall.