TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Civil War Book Reviews

  • Review In Brief: The Battle of Hanover Court House by Michael C. Hardy

    Books on the Peninsula Campaign The Battle of Hanover Court House: Turning Point of the Peninsula Campaign, May 27, 1862. Michael C. Hardy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. 205 pp. 13 maps. The Battle of Hanover Court House finally gets its own book in this McFarland offering of author Michael Hardy. As […]

  • Review In Brief: “Happiness Is Not My Companion”: The Life of G. K. Warren by David M. Jordan

    Civil War Biographies “Happiness Is Not My Companion”: The Life of General G. K. Warren. David M. Jordan. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001. 402 pp. 11 maps. Before I review this one, let me admit that I’ve never been into book length biographies, even when they concern Civil War era figures, so […]

  • Review In Brief: Two Great Rebel Armies: An Essay in Confederate Military History by Richard McMurry

    Books on Confederate Armies Two Great Rebel Armies: An Essay in Confederate Military History. Richard M. McMurry. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press (1989). 204 pp. 1 map. Richard McMurry takes a look at the two largest armies in the Confederacy in what is, as the title indicates, an extended essay. The […]

  • The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce: A New Friday Feature

    Ambrose Bierce represents a confluence of sorts for me personally. I am a Civil War buff obviously, as anyone who reads this blog well knows. However, a second passion of mine is the world of horror fiction, particularly short stories. Bierce, a Civil War soldier, was deeply affected by the war. He went on to […]

  • Review: Embattled Arkansas by Michael Banasik

    Books on the Prairie Grove Campaign Embattled Arkansas: The Prairie Grove Campaign of 1862. Michael E. Banasik. Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Company (1998). 580 pp. 30 maps. The extended title of Michael Banasik’s Embattled Arkansas: The Prairie Grove Campaign of 1862 is misleading, but in a very good way. The author does not just cover […]

  • Review: Shock Troops of the Confederacy by Fred Ray

    http://www.brettschulte.net/ACWBooks/Books/ACWUnitHistories/ShockTroopsConfederacySharpshootersRay.html Note: For those of you who missed it, you might want to check out my multi-part summary of the book, starting with Part 1. Shock Troops of the Confederacy: The Sharpshooter Battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia. Fred L. Ray. Asheville, NC: CFS Press (2006). 432 pp. 43 maps. Review Fred Ray’s Shock […]

  • Review: Rebels At The Gate

    http://www.brettschulte.net/ACWBooks/Books/ACWEast/WestVirginia1861.htm Rebels At The Gate: Lee and McClellan on the Front Lines of a Nation Divided. W. Hunter Lesser. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc. (May 2004). 376 pp. 3 maps. The following is a review and summary of Rebels At The Gate, a book by W. Hunter Lesser focusing on the 1861 campaign in western Virginia. […]