Ten Most Highly Anticipated Titles (first half of 2024)

With publishing schedules for the first six months of next year largely solidified by now, let's look at some of the titles that have caught my eye the most. The following ten books are listed in rough chronological order of release, though dates are always subject to change.

1. The Old War Horse: The USS Benton on Western Waters, 1853-1865 by Myron Smith (McFarland).

I am glad my earlier assumption, that Smith's 2022 book After Vicksburg: The Civil War on Western Waters, 1863-1865 was the author's final word on the topic of the inland naval war conducted in the West and Trans-Mississippi theaters, has proved false.

2. The Army under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era by Cecily Zander (LSU).

Nineteenth-century Americans held a range of views (and suspicions) regarding the necessity of maintaining a standing national army and a professional officer corps to lead it. Zander's exploration of those debates, specifically focused on the Civil War period, sounds like something that might be up my alley.

3. Massacre at St. Louis: The Road to the Camp Jackson Affair and Civil War by Kenneth Burchett (McFarland).

Trans-Mississippi military, even military-adjacent, coverage has dried up almost completely over recent years. I thought Burchett's earlier study of the Battle of Carthage was very worthwhile, and I am very keen on reading what he has to say about this other important Missouri 1861 event.

4. The War That Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher ed. by Janney, Carmichael, and Sheehan-Dean (UNC).

This anthology promotes fresh scholarship connected to lines of inquiry associated in some manner with Gary Gallagher's long career in teaching and publishing. I've always liked Gallagher's work, even when I disagree with it, and I also respect his willingness to openly challenge certain aspects of scholarly trends currently in vogue among the younger generation of Civil War historians.

5. The Inland Campaign for Vicksburg: Five Battles in Seventeen Days, May 1-17, 1863 by Timothy Smith (UP of Kansas).

Of course, this volume (the finishing stroke to Smith's monumental Vicksburg Campaign series) was always expected, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that its release was only months away. I haven't even had the chance to finish the latest entry (Bayou Battles for Vicksburg) yet!

6. Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War by William Fox (History Pr).

Another title that might help salve some of my disappointment over the recent dearth in T-M coverage.

7. The Civil War in the Age of Nationalism by Eichhorn & Campbell (LSU).

A number of recent books have effectively situated the social, military, and political aspects of the ACW within regional/hemispheric as well as global contexts. The description attached to this upcoming contribution to that body of scholarship suggests a very multi-faceted approach to the topic.

8. Garden of Ruins: Occupied Louisiana in the Civil War by J. Matthew Ward (LSU).

With its state capital, primary city of New Orleans, and large swaths of key territory all seized by Union forces by the spring of 1862, Louisiana experienced one of the war's longest and most extensive military occupations and was an important testing ground for wartime reconstruction. Ward's upcoming occupation history is high on my list of must-reads.

9. The Atlanta Campaign - Volume 1: Dalton to Cassville, May 1-19, 1864 by David Powell (SB).

The volume and consistency of output from Civil War authors such as Earl Hess, Timothy Smith, and David Powell has been something to behold. Entire forests have been cleared, replanted, and cleared again to fuel the insatiable demand for paper. The latest Powell project, his biggest yet, is a multi-volume history of the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, and the first volume is currently scheduled (fingers crossed) for next spring.

10. The Battle of Dranesville: Early War in Northern Virginia, December 1861 by Ryan Quint (SB).

As mentioned here on more than one occasion, my eastern theater interests have always centered around the early-war period up through the end of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Quint's book is right in there.