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Sunday, September 17, 2017

The Decision Was Always My Own

When it comes to being prolific, one Civil War historian who can give Earl Hess a decent run for his money is Timothy Smith. In addition to his peerless 1862 western theater trilogy, Smith has recently written, among other things, a number of books on battlefields and battlefield preservation.

Before all this, though, he made his first splash with an excellent study of the Battle of Champion Hill. Smith's next book returns to that important campaign, but we won't see The Decision Was Always My Own: Ulysses S. Grant and the Vicksburg Campaign until next summer. Even the book page at publisher SIU Press doesn't have a description up yet, so we can only guess at its focus and range at this early point in time. Given the author's track record when it comes to military history, I think I can safely reserve a firm place for Decision on next year's reading list.

9 comments:

  1. John FoskettSeptember 17, 2017 at 10:44 AM

    That makes two guaranteed purchases. Tim, like Hess, is not only prolific but consistently good. Speaking of SIU Press, any idea what's happened to the Heartland Campaigns series?

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    1. DW@CWBASeptember 17, 2017 at 11:14 AM

      It always feels like there's a long gap between volumes in that series, but they've actually put out five between 2009 and 2016. I don't know what's next.

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    2. John FoskettSeptember 17, 2017 at 1:08 PM

      That's a valid point. The 1864 Tennessee Campaign book was only January, 2016. I guess I was looking at this in terms of the significant number of volumes which they've projected in the past.

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    3. DW@CWBASeptember 17, 2017 at 4:01 PM

      It's a very ambitious list. I think it's reasonable to wonder whether they'll actually get to all of them. Who knows how many are actually 'in the works' at the moment.

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  2. Drew BledsoeSeptember 18, 2017 at 5:09 AM

    There are Two Vicksburg volumes in the pipeline. One covers Grant's assaults, and the other (to which I am contributing a chapter) deals with siege operations. The assaults volume is slightly ahead of the siege one, but both are very near going to press. Down the road a bit, there is a Forts Henry and Donelson volume in the works. Chuck and Steve are working hard on these volumes, and there are plenty more ahead. Thanks for your interest in the SIU Heartland series.

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    1. DW@CWBASeptember 18, 2017 at 8:06 AM

      Thanks for the update, Drew. It's nice to occasionally get answers to our musings from someone in the know. Much appreciated.

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    2. John FoskettSeptember 18, 2017 at 8:39 AM

      I second the thanks.

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    3. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2017 at 9:48 AM

      Hi Drew

      Wow, some really great information from Drew Bledsoe and TPS. I do really enjoy the SIU Heartland series. I did notice in a recent magazine article that Tim did that he was working on a new project and it wasn't the SIU Grant volume. I wonder if that is what TPS was mentioning? DH

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  3. TPSSeptember 18, 2017 at 7:21 AM

    Working with Tim before anyone knew of him on Champion Hill (which I still consider one of the finest battles studies ever published) was a real pleasure. He is a great guy.

    Just a small tease, but he sent me a complete manuscript on another topic last week, and I will be accepting it this week.

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