Booknotes: The Antietam Battlefield Atlas

New Arrival:

• The Antietam Battlefield Atlas by Brad Butkovich (Historic Imagination, 2023).

We already have a fine modern Antietam atlas in Bradley Gottfried's The Maps of Antietam (2012), but, in my view, you can never have too many. Time stamps, exact troop positions, battlefield events, and other points of interest are always open to differing interpretations, and the more information interested readers have at their fingertips the better. Thus, Brad Butkovich's The Antietam Battlefield Atlas is a very welcome addition to the field.

From the description: The Antietam Battlefield Atlas "is the result of years of research and ground work. The 124 full color maps follow the course of the battle step by step during that fateful day. This atlas will be indispensable for the battlefield visitor as they walk the park and try to understand the movement of the troops and units who were there."

A glance at the cover art gives you a good idea about what to expect from the maps. There is a lot of information thrust into them, and their multi-color nature helps all the details pop without visually overwhelming the reader. Directly below each map are numbered bullet points offering an approximate time for the action and a brief summary of events depicted.