Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has an enjoyable Fourth, and, since everything comes down to books on this site, what better way is there to celebrate our nation's independence and also recognize one of the Civil War's pivotal events that occurred on that very month and day in 1863 than by cracking open Timothy Smith's The Siege of Vicksburg: Climax of the Campaign to Open the Mississippi River, May 23-July 4, 1863, which has just received a timely release by publisher University Press of Kansas. I have not received my copy of this colossal new history of the Vicksburg siege and surrender yet but am looking forward to reading it this month.