Book News: Civil War Photo Forensics

Scott Hippensteel is one of those rare authors whose Civil War topical interests are both are all over the place and all appealing to me. Their novelty in approach and content is an added benefit. With previous books studying rock geology's effects on Civil War combat [link to review], the ways in which geological sediments (particularly sand) shaped Civil War campaigns and battles [link], and myths of the Civil War [link], Hippensteel has now directed his attention toward Civil War photography.

Civil War Photo Forensics: Investigating Battlefield Photographs Through a Critical Lens is currently scheduled for a Spring '26 release from University of Tennessee Press. In it, Hippensteel "examines various Civil War photographs and photographers, employing metrics to determine which photographs have become the most iconic and which photographs are authentic." In addition to engaging with the journalism versus art debate when it comes to Civil War field photography, the book launches "multiple investigations into a few controversial photographs, applying a critical analysis to both the photographs and the photographic process at that time, and an argument for the legacies of Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and others who placed themselves on the battlefield alongside soldiers and officers on both sides." Like they do everything else, Antietam and Gettysburg dominate previous forensic discussions of Civil War battlefield photography, and I hope that Hippensteel will sample images from other campaigns and theaters.