Ten Most Highly Anticipated Titles (second half of 2023)

As we rapidly approach the midpoint of the year and remaining gaps in the 2023 release schedule continue to be filled in, perhaps now is a good time to put together a list of ten July-and-onward titles that have piqued my interest so far (as you might recall, I did a similar thing for the first half of the year).

In no particular order:

1. I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign by Scott Hartwig (JHUP).

This one undoubtedly resides at or near the top of a great many 'most anticipated' lists for 2023. No one (except for anonymous 1-star rating guy) should be surprised if it turns out to be the leading desert island choice for Antietam enthusiasts.

2. Conflict of Command: George McClellan, Abraham Lincoln, and the Politics of War by George Rable (LSU).

Rable's more "neutral" examination of the Lincoln-McClellan relationship promises to break the mold, mainly through "reinterpreting the political aspects of their partnership."

3. Bayou Battles for Vicksburg: The Swamp and River Expeditions, January 1-April 30, 1863 by Timothy Smith (Kansas).

The next installment in Smith's series covers the campaign's extended floundering phase that preceded the dramatic cross-river breakthrough achieved below the Hill City. Though the description extols its "fresh research on the Yazoo Pass and Steele’s Bayou expeditions, Grant’s canal, and the Lake Providence effort," there's no mention of Arkansas Post. Given the dearth of major coverage, I was hoping that Smith would include it as part of the campaign. [ed. 9/1/23: More info has come out since this posting, and I was glad to find that the book does indeed cover Arkansas Post]

4. A Man by Any Other Name: William Clarke Quantrill and the Search for American Manhood by Joseph Beilein (Georgia).

I would never have thought to make a "search for American manhood" the vehicle through which to better understand Quantrill, but I like everything that Beilein has produced so far and am very intrigued at the prospect of a new biography of one of the war's most controversial and hated figures.

5. Lincoln and California: The President, the War, and the Golden State by Brian McGinty (Potomac).

Any new book covering some aspect of the Civil War in the Far West automatically gets a nod of interest from CWBA.

6. War on Record: The Archive and the Afterlife of the Civil War by Yael Sternhell (Yale UP).

With this one on the way, I no longer have to wonder why no history of the creation and impact of the O.R. itself has been produced. Well, at least I am not aware of any similarly scaled antecedents.

7. General J. E. B. Stuart: The Soldier and the Man by Edward Longacre (SB).

Eastern theater cavalry books published over recent decades have renewed my appreciation for Stuart's talents (if you don't allow yourself to get too distracted by the noise, you find he was a pretty damn good cavalry general). I think I might be up for a new biography.

8. Treasure and Empire in the Civil War: The Panama Route, the West and the Campaigns to Control America's Mineral Wealth by Neil Chatelain (McFarland).

I can't find much info about this one yet (thus far, the publisher doesn't even have a book page up for it), but the appealing combination of title and author put it on the radar.

9. A Mismanaged Affair: The Battle of Seven Pines / Fair Oaks, May 31-June 1, 1862 by Victor Vignola (SB).

Newton's Howard series installment is now thirty years old, and a meatier update has been long overdue. I'm certain I join all Peninsula Campaign nerds (especially John F., Esq.!) in being anxious to find out what Vignola has in store for us.

10. The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West by Timothy Smith (LSU).

Much of the blistering criticism, then and now, of Sidney Johnston's generalship is deserved, but I agree with those who argue that he might have been the only man who could have kept the Confederacy's squabbling western generals in line and rowing together in the same direction. As the premier modern chronicler of many of the disastrous military events that occurred under Johnston's watch, Smith is well-placed to offer penetrating views and assessments of the man and his actions.