Booknotes II (Feb '15)

New Arrivals:

1. Alias "Paine": Lewis Thornton Powell, the Mystery Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy, Second Edition by Betty J. Ownsbey (McFarland, 2015).

Ownsbey's Powell biography was first published in hardcover in 1993. The new description doesn't hint at what changes were made for the 2nd edition and the author's preface offers no clues either.

2. Shiloh: Conquer or Perish by Timothy B. Smith (UP of Kansas, 2014).

Yes, finally. The Smith books that I've read have never disappointed me and first impressions for this one are similarly positive (though in some ways I would have gone a different direction on the maps). I am especially looking forward to the Day 2 coverage.

3. Thieves' Road: The Black Hills Betrayal and Custer's Path to Little Bighorn by Terry Mort (Prometheus, 2015).

Subject-wise this one is stretching it for the site but everyone who sends me something at the very least gets a Booknotes mention.

4. For Slavery and Union: Benjamin Buckner and Kentucky Loyalties in the Civil War by Patrick A. Lewis (UP of KY, 2015).

A conservative Kentucky slave owner, Buckner thought his interests best served by remaining within the Union and joined the 20th Kentucky as its major in 1861. Stung by the Emancipation Proclamation, he resigned in 1863. Lewis "uses Benjamin Buckner's story to illuminate the origins and perspectives of Kentucky's conservative proslavery Unionists, and explain why this group eventually became a key force in repressing social and political change during the Reconstruction era and beyond. Free from the constraints and restrictions imposed on the former Confederate states, men like Buckner joined with other proslavery forces to work in the interest of the New South's brand of economic growth and racial control."