Category: Civil War Book Reviews

  • Civil War Book Review: Punitive War: Confederate Guerrillas and Union Reprisals

    Mountcastle, Clay. Punitive War: Confederate Guerrillas and Union Reprisals. University Press of Kansas (September 2, 2009). 212 pp., 20 photographs, 5 maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-0-7006-1668-8 $29.95 (Cloth). How did Union soldiers respond to guerrilla warfare by Southerners?  Who conceived of and put into practice Union Army punitive measures against Southern civilians?  Just how […]

  • Civil War Book Review: A Vast and Fiendish Plot: The Confederate Attack on New York City

    A Vast and Fiendish Plot by Clint Johnson Product Details Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Citadel; 1 edition (March 1, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 0806531312 ISBN-13: 978-0806531311 The Civil War has any number of small areas that lack studies.  There are many reasons for this the major one being that people tend not to buy books […]

  • Civil War Book Review: The Chickamauga Campaign (Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland)

    The Chickamauga Campaign (Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland) edited by Steven E. Woodworth Product Details Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press; 1st Edition edition (April 30, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 0809329808 ISBN-13: 978-0809329809 Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland is a brilliant series of essays edited by the historian Steven E. Woodworth.  […]

  • Civil War Book Review: The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth

    Hess, Earl J. The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth. Lawrence.: University of Kansas Press, 2008. 288 p. ISBN# 0700616071. $29.95. According to historian Earl J. Hess, the Stewart W. McClelland Chair in History at Lincoln Memorial University and author of numerous scholarly works, the American Civil War remains the first and only […]

  • Civil War Book Review: The Battles of New Hope Church

    The Battles of New Hope Church by Russell Blount Jr. Product Details Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Pelican Publishing (April 1, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 1589807480 ISBN-13: 978-1589807488 This is an impressive first book, with much to recommend it.  The author’s writing style produces a vivid easy to read narration.  Couple this with seamlessly switching between […]

  • Civil War Book Review: Federal Laws of the Reconstruction

    Hosen, Frederick E. Federal Laws of the Reconstruction: Principal Congressional Acts and Resolutions, Presidential Proclamations, Speeches and Orders, and Other Legislative and Military Documents, 1862-1875. McFarland & Company, Inc. (April 2010). 206 pp., tables, appendices, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-0-7864-4668-1 $49.95 (Paperback). Near the end of the Civil War and on into Reconstruction, many “battles” were […]

  • Civil War Book Review: The Battle of Brandy Station (VA): North America’s Largest Cavalry Battle

    The Battle of Brandy Station (VA): North America’s Largest Cavalry Battle (Civil War Sesquicentennial) [Paperback] by Eric J. Wittenberg Product Details Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: The History Press (March 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 1596297824 ISBN-13: 978-1596297821 Eric Wittenberg writing on the largest cavalry battle of the Civil War, the only improvement would be to make […]