2014 - The "Civil War Books and Authors" Year in Review

The Wall Street Journal reviewed 1,000 books in 2014, their year end "best" considerations obviously stemming from a far broader base of reviewers and candidates than my modest one-man operation can manage. Nevertheless, I do my level best picking and sorting through what comes my way and each December come up with a personal list of favorite titles published over the preceding twelve-plus months. Comments can be found through the links provided. Better yet grab your gift cards, order a few, and read them yourself.

*** BOOK OF THE YEAR ***:

Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln by Jonathan W. White (LSU Pr).

BEST OF THE REST BY CATEGORY:

Battle/Campaign Histories:

Trans-Mississippi Theater:
The Battle of Pilot Knob: Thunder in Arcadia Valley by Bryce A. Suderow and R. Scott House (SEMO Pr).
Western Theater:
Work for Giants: The Campaign and Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg, Mississippi, June-July 1864 by Thomas E. Parson (Kent St. UP).
Eastern Theater:
The Early Morning of War: Bull Run, 1861 by Edward G. Longacre (Univ of Okla Pr).

General History:

When the Wolf Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory by Mary Jane Warde (Univ of Ark Pr).

Social-Cultural History:

Busy in the Cause: Iowa, the Free-State Struggle in the West, and the Prelude to the Civil War by Lowell J. Soike (Univ of Neb Pr).

Political History:

Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln by Jonathan W. White (LSU Pr).

Unit History:

Soldiers in the Army of Freedom: The 1st Kansas Colored, the Civil War's First African American Combat Unit by Ian Michael Spurgeon (Univ of Okla Pr).

Essay Collection:

Gateway to the Confederacy: New Perspectives on the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns, 1862-1863 edited by Evan C. Jones and Wiley Sword (LSU Pr).

Biography:

Citizen-General: Jacob Dolson Cox and the Civil War Era by Eugene D. Schmiel (Ohio UP).

Naval History:

To Retain Command of the Mississippi: The Civil War Naval Campaign for Memphis by Edward B. McCaul (Univ of Tenn Pr).

Edited Letters/Memoir/Diary:

A Gunner in Lee's Army: The Civil War Letters of Thomas Henry Carter edited by Graham T. Dozier (UNC Pr).

Guide Book:

Manassas: A Battlefield Guide by Ethan S. Rafuse (Univ of Neb Pr).

Map Study:

The Maps of the Bristoe Station and Mine Run Campaigns by Bradley Gottfried (Savas Beatie).

Self-Published:

Where Valor and Devotion Met: The Battle of Pilot Knob by Douglas L. Gifford.

Local History:

The Coal River Valley in the Civil War: West Virginia Mountains, 1861 by Michael B. Graham (The Hist Pr).

Regional History:

Kentucky Confederates: Secession, Civil War, and the Jackson Purchase by Berry Craig (UP of Ky).

Reference Book(s):

Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri, Volumes III and IV by Bruce Nichols (McFarland).

New Perspectives:

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).

Classic Reprint:

The Civil War Diary of Gideon Welles: Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy - The Original Manuscript Edition edited by William E. and Erica L. Gienapp (Univ of Ill Pr).