Reviewing the latest addition to UNC Press's Military Campaigns of the Civil War series, and recalling the series as whole, reminded me how incredibly busy Gary Gallagher must have been in the 1990s with his university obligations, series contributor and editor duties, television program involvements, public history speaking engagements, and other research and writing.
One group of books from that time (and I'm not sure if all five were formally part of a single series) that I have fond memories of, and unfortunately haven't revisited since then, are the following essay compilations Gallagher edited for Kent State University Press:
• Antietam: Essays on the 1862 Maryland Campaign (1989).
• Struggle for the Shenandoah: Essays on the 1864 Valley Campaign (1991).
• The First Day at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership (1992).
• The Second Day at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership (1993).
• Three Days at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership (1999).
These books, especially the Gettysburg ones, were a staple of 1990s Borders and B&N bookshelves, back when their Civil War store offerings filled entire aisles. Man, I miss those days. Today, the otherwise flourishing B&N store closest to me treats the ACW like it's an embarrassment to the history section, relegating the entire subject to the floor shelf of a single bay.
To end on a more positive note, like UNC Press has managed to do with the Military Campaigns series, KSU Press still makes all of the above titles available in very reasonably priced paperback format.
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Saturday, April 26, 2025
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I counted the books on the American Civil War at my local B&N. 7 (SEVEN) books. And 4 of them were originally published a couple of decades ago.
ReplyDeleteSimilar ratio at mine. There is a handful of new titles that get rotated in and out, but the great majority are the usual suspects from 20 yrs ago.
DeleteAnd then there is that SIU Campaigns in the West series which is on a snail-like pace. But by checking up on that today I learned that a volume on Forts Henry and Donelson is due out July 2026. Unique to the series, there will be a paperback option.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. I'd have to refamiliarize myself with the release dates to know for sure, but it does seem that the gap between titles has been widening. Their old release roadmap is far from being close to completion, too.
DeleteNebraska told me that the Peninsula Campaign is next up on their Great Campaigns of the CW series, but that was years ago with no further word on its progress.
"The B&N store closest to me" has gotten farther and farther away over the last few years. The biggest stores in downtown Seattle and the University district have been gone for a number of years now, as has the slightly smaller B&N in my mainly residential part of the city. And don't even mention Borders, which had the best History/Civil War section of them all.
ReplyDeleteMy local B and N use to have four or five shelfs worth of CW books. Now it has contracted enormously. I found so many great titles there over the years. The glory days were very heady indeed!
ReplyDeleteHello Good to hear that SIU Press is continuing to publish books in it's wonderful series Campaigns in the West. I don't know that I ever remember a university press listing a future publication out 15 months. Regardless, hope this won't be the last in the series.
ReplyDelete