Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign

by Scott C. Patchan

From the publisher:
Jubal A. Early’s disastrous battles in the Shenandoah Valley ultimately resulted in his ignominious dismissal. But Early’s lesser-known summer campaign of 1864, between his raid on Washington and Phil Sheridan’s renowned fall campaign, had a significant impact on the political and military landscape of the time. By focusing on military tactics and battle history in uncovering the facts and events of these little-understood battles, Scott C. Patchan offers a new perspective on Early’s contributions to the Confederate war effort—and to Union battle plans and politicking.

Patchan details the previously unexplored battles at Rutherford’s Farm and Kernstown (a pinnacle of Confederate operations in the Shenandoah Valley) and examines the campaign’s influence on President Lincoln’s reelection efforts. He also provides insights into the personalities, careers, and roles in Shenandoah of Confederate general John C. Breckinridge, Union general George Crook, and Union colonel James A. Mulligan, with his “fighting Irish” brigade from Chicago. Finally, Patchan reconsiders the ever-colorful and controversial Early himself, whose importance in the Confederate military pantheon this book at last makes clear.

The Essential Lincoln

by Tim Davidson (ed.)

The Essential Lincoln: The Finest Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln collects the seminal speeches, letters, proclamations, debate performances, and miscellaneous other writings, spanning over thirty years of Lincoln's life. The entire text of each document or speech is included, rather than a short excerpt, to put into context the most commonly quoted Lincoln passages and to fully demonstrate the lawyerly elegance of his longer speeches and addresses. The book contains both the best-known (the Gettysburg address and the Emancipation Proclamation, the Second Inaugural, etc.) and some rarely-included pieces (a first draft of the Gettysburg address, the full text of a debate with Stephen Douglas, letters to Mary Todd Lincoln before and after his election as President, etc.) in simple chronological order.

Clash of Extremes: The Economic Origins of the Civil War

by Marc Egnal

From the publisher:
Clash of Extremes takes on the reigning orthodoxy that the American Civil War was waged over high moral principles. Marc Egnal contends that economics, more than any other factor, moved the country to war in 1861.

Drawing on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Egnal shows that between 1820 and 1850, patterns of trade and production drew the North and South together and allowed sectional leaders to broker a series of compromises. After midcentury, however, all that changed as the rise of the Great Lakes economy reoriented Northern trade along east-west lines.

Meanwhile, in the South, soil exhaustion, concerns about the country’s westward expansion, and growing ties between the Upper South and the free states led many cotton planters to contemplate secession.

The war that ensued was truly a “clash of extremes.” Sweeping from the 1820s through Reconstruction and filled with colorful portraits of leading individuals, Clash of Extremes emphasizes economics while giving careful consideration to social conflicts, ideology, and the rise of the antislavery movement. The result is a bold reinterpretation that will challenge the way we think about the Civil War.

"... this is a serious work that may well reignite a historical debate" - Booklist

"Egnal's perceptive, fine-grained analysis of fragmentation within the North and South around local patterns of trade, agriculture and manufacturing is especially revealing." - Publishers Weekly

Marc Egnal is a professor of history at York University and the author of several books, including A Mighty Empire: The Origins of the American Revolution and Divergent Paths: How Culture and Institutions Have Shaped North American Growth.

From CWBN
We are showing this book as published today because we missed its publication date in January.

The Battle of the Crater: A Complete History

by John F. Schmutz

From the publisher:
The Battle of the Crater is one of the lesser known yet most interesting battles of the Civil War. This book, detailing the onset of brutal trench warfare at Petersburg, Virginia, digs deeply into the military and political background of the battle. Beginning by tracing the rival armies through the bitter conflicts of the Overland Campaign and culminating with the siege of Petersburg and the battle intended to lift that siege, this book offers a candid look at the perception of the campaign by both sides.

Corporate attorney, Army veteran and longtime Civil War enthusiast John F. Schmutz resides in San Antonio, Texas.

From CWBN
We are showing this book as published today because we missed its publication date in February.

The Psychic Life of Abraham Lincoln

by Susan B. Martinez

From the publisher:
In dreams, he foresaw his sudden death. He consulted oracles, and at age 22 was told by a seer that he would become President of the United States.

Obscurantists and historians have dismissed Abraham Lincoln's psychic involvements which, in his own time, were profound state secrets. But Lincoln's rise to power coincided with the Great Age of Spiritualism and, as a Mystical Unionist, he felt he was controlled by "some other power."

Trauma and heartbreak opened the psychic door for this otherworldly President, whose precognitive dreams, evil omens, and trancelike states are carefully documented here in this bold yet poignant chronicle of tragic beginnings, White House seances, and paranormal eruptions of the Civil War era.

Aided by the deathbed memoir of his favorite medium, Lincoln's remarkable psychic experiences come to life with communications from beyond, ESP, true and false prophecies, as well as thumbnail sketches of the most influential spiritualists in Lincoln's orbit. Surveying clairvoyant incidents in Lincoln's life from cradle to grave, the book also examines the Emancipation Proclamation and the unseen powers that moved pen to hand for its historic signing into law.

SUSAN B. MARTINEZ, Ph.D., is an independent scholar, journalist, and activist who received her doctorate in Anthropology from Columbia University in the 1970s. Raised by agnostic/intellectual parents in Brooklyn, New York, she found her way to Spiritualism in the early 1980s and has since researched and wrote on psychic phenomena, specializing in modern spiritualism in the Victorian era. Currently Book Review Editor at the Academy of Spirituality and Paranormal Studies, she lives in the north Georgia mountains.

Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History

by Alan Huffman

From the publisher:
A powerful account of a surprisingly forgotten tragedy of the Civil War

A stunning wartime account of human endurance and adventure, and an exploration of just how much the human body and mind can take, Sultana follows several young Union soldiers through the Civil War and what was, for them, its unimaginably disastrous aftermath. We see them enlist and then almost immediately be plunged into a cascading series of wartime horrors: Battle, trauma, prison camp, and, finally, the sinking of the Sultana, the steamboat that was taking them back home.

On an April night in 1865, the Sultana slowly moved up the dark Mississippi, its overtaxed engines straining under the weight of a human cargo that included an estimated twenty-four hundred passengers—more than six times the number it was designed to carry. Most were weak, emaciated Union soldiers, recently paroled from Confederate prison camps, on their way home after enduring the violence of war. At two a.m., three of Sultana's four boilers exploded. Within twenty minutes, it went down in fire and water, taking an estimated seventeen hundred lives.

The sinking of the Sultana remains the worst maritime disaster in American history, yet due to a confluence of contemporary events (Lincoln had recently been assassinated and the war had ended), it soon faded into relative obscurity. Now Alan Huffman presents this harrowing story against the backdrop of the endless suffering already endured by its survivors. Using contemporary research as well as digging deep into archives and family keepsakes, Huffman paints a gripping portrait of the young men who made it home alive.

Alan Huffman is a freelance journalist and the author of the highly acclaimed Mississippi in Africa. He has appeared on numerous NPR shows and has contributed to many publications, including Smithsonian magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post Magazine. He lives in Bolton, Mississippi.

Shooting the Civil War: Cinema, History and American National Identity

by Jenny Barrett

From the publisher:
No fewer than seven hundred Civil War films have been made by Hollywood from early silent days to the present, from the epoch-making Birth of a Nation, through The Red Badge of Courage and Gone With the Wind to the recent Glory, Ride with the Devil and Cold Mountain.

This readable and innovative book on the American Civil War as presented in Hollywood cinema goes deep into the best of these films, arguing that rather than belonging to a single genre, Civil War films are to be found across genres, as domestic melodramas, Westerns or combat films for example. As such, they have fresh insights to give into the war and into America's sense of itself.

Shooting the Civil War shows how these films create an American ancestor who is blameless and undertakes a process of reinscription into the American historical family. It also makes the remarkable revelation that no Civil War film yet made has had a central black character who survives the war, fathers the children of the future, and can stand as representative of the whole American people. To this extent, the book is saying, the Civil War remains a work in progress.

Jenny Barrett is Program Leader in Film Studies at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire.

Chicago's Irish Legion: The 90th Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War

by James B. Swan

From the publisher:
Extensively documented and richly detailed, Chicago’s Irish Legion tells the compelling story of Chicago’s 90th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, the only Irish regiment in Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s XV Army Corps. Swan’s sweeping history of this singular regiment and its pivotal role in the Western Theater of the Civil War draws heavily from primary documents and first-person observations, giving readers an intimate glimpse into the trials and triumphs of ethnic soldiers during one of the most destructive wars in American history.

At the onset of the bitter conflict between the North and the South, Irish immigrants faced a wall of distrust and discrimination in the United States. Many Americans were deeply suspicious of Irish religion and politics, while others openly doubted the dedication of the Irish to the Union cause. Responding to these criticisms with a firm show of patriotism, the Catholic clergy and Irish politicians in northern Illinois—along with the Chicago press and community—joined forces to recruit the Irish Legion. Composed mainly of foreign-born recruits, the Legion rapidly dispelled any rumors of disloyalty with its heroic endeavors for the Union. The volunteers proved to be instrumental in various battles and sieges, as well as the marches to the sea and through the Carolinas, suffering severe casualties and providing indispensable support for the Union. Swan meticulously traces the remarkable journey of these unique soldiers from their regiment’s inception and first military engagement in 1862 to their disbandment and participation in the Grand Review of General Sherman’s army in 1865.

Enhancing the volume are firsthand accounts from the soldiers who endured the misery of frigid winters and brutal environments, struggling against the ravages of disease and hunger as they marched more than twenty-six hundred miles over the course of the war. Also revealed are personal insights into some of the war’s most harrowing events, including the battle at Chattanooga and Sherman’s famous campaign for Atlanta. In addition, Swan exposes the racial issues that affected the soldiers of the 90th Illinois, including their reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation and the formations of the first African American fighting units. Swan rounds out the volume with stories of survivors’ lives after the war, adding an even deeper personal dimension to this absorbing chronicle.

The Last Confederate General: John C. Vaughn and His East Tennessee Cavalry

by Charles Larry Gordon

From the publisher:
The Last Confederate General presents the first biography of Confederate cavalry commander John Crawford Vaughn, from his birth in East Tennessee, through the Mexican War, the gold rush, and the War Between the States, to his return to Tennessee and his untimely death in Georgia.

In the mid-nineteenth century John Crawford Vaughn was one of the most famous men in Tennessee. He was the first man to raise a regiment in the state and one of the very last Confederate generals to surrender. History has not been kind to Vaughn, who finally emerges from the shadows in this absorbing assessment of his life and military career.

Follow Vaughn and his East Tennessee Cavalry to Manassas, Vicksburg, and other crucial battles as Larry Gordon makes use of new research and information to reveal the complete picture of Vaughn, including:

· Vaughn's hitherto unknown location on the field of crucial battles;

· His ability to overcome multiple battlefield wounds;

· His wife and family's incarceration as Union hostages;

· The effects of his anxiety over his family's incarceration on his performance as a military commander;

· His close friendship with Jefferson Davis-close enough for him to become Davis's escort during the final month of the war; and

· His importance as one of the few Confederate generals to return to Tennessee after Reconstruction, where he soon became president of the state senate.

Larry Gordon is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and Army War College; and a veteran of the Vietnam War, with many years of service in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the United States. Mr. Gordon, who works at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and has long been an interpretive volunteer at Manassas National Battlefield Park. He lives in Northern Virginia.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

What Shall We Do with the Negro?: Lincoln, White Racism, and Civil War America

by Paul D. Escott

From the publisher:
Throughout the Civil War, newspaper headlines and stories repeatedly asked some variation of the question posed by the New York Times in 1862, "What shall we do with the negro?" The future status of African Americans was a pressing issue for those in both the North and in the South. Consulting a broad range of contemporary newspapers, magazines, books, army records, government documents, publications of citizens' organizations, letters, diaries, and other sources, Paul D. Escott examines the attitudes and actions of Northerners and Southerners regarding the future of African Americans after the end of slavery. "What Shall We Do with the Negro?" demonstrates how historians together with our larger national popular culture have wrenched the history of this period from its context in order to portray key figures as heroes or exemplars of national virtue.

Escott gives especial critical attention to Abraham Lincoln. Since the civil rights movement, many popular books have treated Lincoln as an icon, a mythical leader with thoroughly modern views on all aspects of race. But, focusing on Lincoln's policies rather than attempting to divine Lincoln's intentions from his often ambiguous or cryptic statements, Escott reveals a president who placed a higher priority on reunion than on emancipation, who showed an enduring respect for states' rights, who assumed that the social status of African Americans would change very slowly in freedom, and who offered major incentives to white Southerners at the expense of the interests of blacks.

Escott's approach reveals the depth of slavery's influence on society and the pervasiveness of assumptions of white supremacy. "What Shall We Do with theNegro?" serves as a corrective in offering a more realistic, more nuanced, and less celebratory approach to understanding this crucial period in American history.

Paul D. Escott is Reynolds Professor of History at Wake Forest University and the author of After Secession and Slavery Remembered, winner of the Mayflower Cup.

Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War

by David Herbert Donald

From the publisher:
Harvard Professor David Herbert Donald traces Sumner's life in this Pulitzer-Prize winning classic about a nation careening toward Civil War. In a period when senators often exercised more influence than presidents, Senator Charles Sumner was one of the most powerful forces in the American government. His uncompromising moral standards made him a lightning rod in an era fraught with conflict.

Sumner's fight to end slavery made him a hero in the North and stirred outrage in the South. In what was called the first blow of the Civil War, he was physically attacked by a colleague on the Senate floor. An advocate of international peace and a leader of educational and prison reform, Sumner refused to abandon the moral high ground, no matter what the cost. He used his office and influence to transform the United States during the most contentious and violent period in the nation's history.

David Herbert Donald is the Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard University. He has written over thirty books, including "Lincoln," (1996) which has sold well over 70,000 copies since 2002, and 9,078 copies in 2007 alone, and the Pulitzer-Prize winning "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe."

Gettysburg

by Applewood Books

From the publisher:
Over 60 images relating to the battle of Gettysburg in a full-color paperback. Part of Applewood's Pictorial America series, the book features images drawn from historical sources and include prints, paintings, illustrations, and photographs. This small gem is the ideal gift for anyone interested in a concise and compelling visual history of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.

Liberty to the Downtrodden: Thomas L. Kane, Romantic Reformer

by Matthew J. Grow

From the publisher:
Thomas L. Kane (1822-1883), a crusader for antislavery, women's rights, and the downtrodden, rose to prominence in his day as the most ardent and persuasive defender of Mormons' religious liberty. Though not a Mormon, Kane sought to defend the much-reviled group from the "Holy War" waged against them by evangelical America. His courageous personal intervention averted a potentially catastrophic bloody conflict between federal troops and Mormon settlers in the now nearly forgotten Utah War of 1857-58.

Drawing on extensive, newly available archives, this book is the first to tell the full story of Kane's extraordinary life. The book illuminates his powerful Philadelphia family, his personal life and eccentricities, his reform achievements, his place in Mormon history, and his career as a Civil War general. Further, the book revises previous understandings of nineteenth-century reform, showing how Kane and like-minded others fused Democratic Party ideology, anti-evangelicalism, and romanticism.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

One Man Great Enough

by John C. Waugh

From the publisher:
How did Abraham Lincoln, long held as a paragon of presidential bravery and principled politics, find his way to the White House? How did he become this one man great enough to risk the fate of the nation on the well-worn but cast-off notion that all men are created equal?

Here award-winning historian John C. Waugh takes us on Lincoln’s road to the Civil War. From Lincoln's first public rejection of slavery to his secret arrival in the capital, from his stunning debates with Stephen Douglas to his contemplative moments considering the state of the country he loved, Waugh shows us America as Lincoln saw it and as Lincoln described it. Much of this wonderful story is told by Lincoln himself, detailing through his own writing his emergence onto the political scene and the evolution of his beliefs about the Union, the Constitution, democracy, slavery, and civil war. Waugh brings Lincoln’s path into new reliefby letting the great man tell his own story, at a depth that brings us ever closer to understanding this mysterious, complicated, truly great man.

JOHN C. WAUGH is the award-winning author of four other books about the Civil War. A former bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the Civil War Times Illustrated. He lives in Texas.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Mrs. Dred Scott

by Lea Vandervelde

From the publisher:
Among the most infamous U.S. Supreme Court decisions is Dred Scott v. Sandford. Despite the case's signal importance as a turning point in America's history, the lives of the slave litigants have receded to the margins of the record, as conventional accounts have focused on the case's judges and lawyers. In telling the life of Harriet, Dred's wife and co-litigant in the case, this book provides a compensatory history to the generations of work that missed key sources only recently brought to light. Moreover, it gives insight into the reasons and ways that slaves used the courts to establish their freedom.

A remarkable piece of historical detective work, Mrs. Dred Scott chronicles Harriet's life from her adolescence on the 1830s Minnesota-Wisconsin frontier, to slavery-era St. Louis, through the eleven years of legal wrangling that ended with the high court's notorious decision. The book not only recovers her story, but also reveals that Harriet may well have been the lynchpin in this pivotal episode in American legal history.

Reconstructing Harriet Scott's life through innovative readings of journals, military records, court dockets, and even frontier store ledgers, VanderVelde offers a stunningly detailed account that is at once a rich portrait of slave life, an engrossing legal drama, and a provocative reassessment of a central event in U.S. constitutional history. More than a biography, the book is a deep social history that freshly illuminates some of the major issues confronting antebellum America, including the status of women, slaves, Free Blacks, and Native Americans.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Jack Hinson's One-Man War, A Civil War Sniper

by Tom C. McKenney

From the publisher:
Jack Hinson never planned to become a deadly sniper. A prosperous and influential Kentucky plantation owner in the 1850s, Hinson was devoted to raising his growing family and working his land. Yet by 1865, Hinson had likely killed more than one hundred men and had single-handedly taken down an armed Union transport in his one-man war against Grant's army and navy. By the end of the Civil War, the Union had committed infantry and cavalry from nine regiments and a specially equipped amphibious task force of marines to capture Hinson, who was by that time nearly sixty years old. They never caught him. Since then, the story of Jack Hinson has evaded astute historians, and until now, he has remained invisible in the history of sniper warfare.

John S. "Old Jack" Hinson watched the start of the Civil War with impartial disinterest. A friend of Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate officers alike, Hinson was opposed to secession, focused instead on his personal affairs. After a unit of Union occupation troops moved in on his land and summarily captured, executed, and placed the decapitated heads of his sons on his gateposts, however, Hinson abandoned his quiet life for one of revenge.

In this unprecedented and incredible biography, Lt. Col. Tom C. McKenney masterfully recounts Hinson's extraordinary feats as a lone Confederate sniper. Equipped with a rifle he had specially made for long-range accuracy, Hinson became a deadly gadfly to the occupying army. An exemplary piece of historical scholarship and the result of fifteen years of research, this definitive biography includes an amazing cast of characters including the Earp Brothers, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Jesse James, the cousin of Hinson's wife. This breathtaking story was all but destroyed by the obliterating forces of history and is the only account in print chronicling this one man's impact on the Civil War.

Lt. Col. Tom C. McKenney, USMC (Ret.) is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was an infantry officer and parachutist in the United States Marine Corps, serving in Korea and Vietnam. A student of military history, he has contributed articles to such magazines as Guideposts, the American Legion Magazine, Military, and Leatherneck. His books and activism for veterans' issues have had him appearing on hundreds of radio and television programs including Fox News, the Today Show, and CBS Morning News.

Abraham Lincoln's World: How Riverboats, Railroads and Republicans Transformed America

by Thomas Crump

From the publisher:
Abraham Lincoln's World describes not only important new developments during Lincoln's life-time, but also relates them -- and other key events-- to the appropriate historical and geographical context. There are chapters devoted to Missouri, California, Kansas, Texas and the deep south, and to Illinois, Lincoln's own home-state. The book's final chapter focuses on Lincoln's four years (1861-65) in the White House, but it also describes how Lincoln won both the presidential race and the war that then followed, almost inevitably, as a result of this victory.

Thomas Crump also examines how the United States was transformed - politically, economically, geographically and socially - during Lincoln's life and how more than anyone else, he adapted to these changes and gave them a new direction. Crump's portrait of Lincoln's America shows how institutions, places and people changed during Lincoln's lifetime and how by the time of his death the country was on the verge of a great breakthrough. Written with clarity and insight this is an engaging account of the true beginnings of the modern United States.

Thomas Crump published his first book in 1963 and has written books on law, science, anthropology and history. As an academic he worked mainly in the United States at many universities including Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Georgetown.

Lincoln on Race and Slavery

by Henry Louis, Jr. Gates and Donald Yacovone (Editors)

From the publisher:
Generations of Americans have debated the meaning of Abraham Lincoln's views on race and slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation, authorized the use of black troops during the Civil War, supported a constitutional amendment to outlaw slavery, and eventually advocated giving the vote to black veterans and to what he referred to as "very intelligent negroes." But he also harbored grave doubts about the intellectual capacity of African Americans, publicly used the n-word until at least 1862, enjoyed "darky" jokes and black-faced minstrel shows, and long favored permanent racial segregation and the voluntary "colonization" of freed slaves in Africa, the Caribbean, or South America. In this book--the first complete collection of Lincoln's important writings on both race and slavery--readers can explore these contradictions through Lincoln's own words. Acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentary filmmaker Henry Louis Gates, Jr., presents the full range of Lincoln's views, gathered from his private letters, speeches, official documents, and even race jokes, arranged chronologically from the late 1830s to the 1860s.

Complete with definitive texts, rich historical notes, and Gates's original introduction, this book charts the progress of a war within Lincoln himself. We witness his struggles with conflicting aims and ideas--a hatred of slavery and a belief in the political equality of all men, but also anti-black prejudices and a determination to preserve the Union even at the cost of preserving slavery. We also watch the evolution of his racial views, especially in reaction to the heroic fighting of black Union troops.

At turns inspiring and disturbing, Lincoln on Race and Slavery is indispensable for understanding what Lincoln's views meant for his generation--and what they mean for our own.

Defending The Union Left Flank: General Dan Sickles at the Battle of Gettysburg

by B. Thomas Kopac

From the publisher:
The Battle of Gettysburg continues to capture the interest of people. The magnitude and scale of the battle draws thousands of visitors to the National Military Park each year. The area of greatest interest is the Union left flank. Devil’s Den, the Wheatfield, and Little Round Top are some of the most highly visited areas of that hallowed ground. It was here that the fiercest fighting took place. Defense of this area was given to General Dan Sickles. Sickles failed to follow orders and committed one of the greatest blunders of the war. Failure to secure Little Round Top was a costly error for the Army of the Potomac. Separating his corps from the army and creating a vulnerable salient, Sickles almost lost the Battle of Gettysburg. This book is an in-depth look at the life and military career of this highly controversial general and his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas (

by Allen C. Guelzo

From the publisher:
Abraham Lincoln was a skilled politician, an inspirational leader, and a man of humor and pathos. What many may not realize is how much he was also a man of ideas. Despite the most meager of formal educations, Lincoln’s tremendous intellectual curiosity drove him into the circle of Enlightenment philosophy and democratic political ideology. And from these, Lincoln developed a set of political convictions that guided him throughout his life and his presidency. Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas, a compilation of ten essays from Lincoln scholar, Allen C. Guelzo, uncovers the hidden sources of Lincoln’s ideas and examines the beliefs that directed his career and brought an end to slavery and the Civil War.

These essays reveal Lincoln to be a man of impressive intellectual probity and depth as well as a man of great contradictions. He was an apostle of freedom who did not believe in human free will; a champion of the Constitution who had to step outside of it in order to save it; a man of many acquaintances and admirers, but few friends; a man who opposed slavery but also opposed the abolition of it; a man of prudence who took more political risks than any other president.

Guelzo explores the many faces of Lincoln’s ideas, and especially the influence of the Founding Fathers and the great European champions of democracy. And he links the 16th president’s struggles with the issues of race, emancipation, religion, and civil liberties to the challenges these issues continue to offer to Americans today.

Lincoln played many roles in his life—lawyer, politician, president—but in each he was driven by a core of values, convictions, andbeliefs about economics, society, and democracy. Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas is a broad and exciting survey of the ideas that made Lincoln great, just as we celebrate the bicentennial his birth.

Allen C. Guelzo, the author of Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America, is Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College. He is a member of the National Council for the Humanities and a two-time winner of the Lincoln Prize, for Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America.

Two Witnesses at Gettysburg: The Personal Accounts of Whitelaw Reid and A. J. L. Fremantle

by Gary W. Gallagher (Editor)

From the publisher:
The two reporters, A.J.L. Fremantle and Whitelaw Reid, one traveling with the Union army and the other with the Confederates, are the authors of these two magnificent firsthand accounts of the battle of Gettysburg in 1863, the pivotal action of the Civil War.

+ Presents engaging firsthand accounts of the battle of Gettysburg
+ Completely updated with a new introduction, references, illustrations and maps
+ Includes a bibliographic essay for further reading
+ Provides students with a unique and engaging look at the most pivotal action of the Civil War

From CWBN
This is the second edition of a previously published hardback.

Crucible of the Civil War: Virginia from Secession to Commemoration

by Edward L. Ayers, Gary W. Gallagher, and Andrew J. Torget, eds.

From the publisher:
Serving both as home to the Confederacy's capital, Richmond, and as the war's primary battlefield, Virginia held a unique place in the American Civil War, while also witnessing the privations and hardships that marked life in all corners of the Confederacy. Yet despite an overwhelming literature on the battles that raged across the state and the armies and military leaders involved, few works have examined Virginia as a distinctive region during the conflict. In Crucible of the Civil War: Virginia from Secession to Commemoration, Edward L. Ayers, Gary W. Gallagher, and Andrew J. Torget together with other scholars, offer an illuminating portrait of the state's wartime economic, political, and social institutions.

Weighing in on contentious issues within established scholarship while also breaking ground in areas long neglected by scholars, several of the essays examine such concerns as the war's effect on slavery in the state, the wartime intersection of race and religion, and the development of Confederate social networks. Other contributions shed light on topics long disputed by historians, such as Virginia's decision to secede from the Union, the development of Confederate nationalism, and how Virginians chose to remember the war after its close.

For anyone interested in Virginia during the Civil War, Crucible of the Civil War offers new ways to approach the study of the most important state in the Confederacy during the bloodiest war in American history.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Abraham Lincoln

by James M. McPherson

From the publisher:
Marking the two hundredth anniversary of Lincoln's birth, this marvelous short biography by a leading historian offers an illuminating portrait of one of the giants in the American story.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson follows the son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks from his early years in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, to his highly successful law career and his marriage to Mary Todd, to his one term in Congress. We witness the dramatic impact the Kansan-Nebraska Act had on Lincoln, arousing him "as he had never been before," leading him to plunge back into politics as a leader of the Republican anti-slavery movement. In 1858, Lincoln ran for Senator in Illinois as a Republican, challenging Stephen A. Douglas (a long acquaintance and former rival for the hand of Mary Todd) to a series of famous debates. Lincoln lost the election, but politically his star rose even higher, and he became a candidate for president in 1860, winning the presidency despite garnering less than 40% of the popular vote, and no votes at all in ten southern states. McPherson describes Lincoln's masterful role as Commander in Chief during the Civil War, the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. A final section discusses his lasting legacy and why he remains a quintessential American hero two hundred years after his birth, while a bibliography and a list of online resources permit easy access to further scholarship.

McPherson here provides an ideal short account of Lincoln--a compelling biography of a man of humble origins who preserved our nation during its greatest catastrophe and ended the scourge of slavery.

Initially moved to study the history of the South as a way of understanding the civil rights movement, James M. McPherson has become the preeminent expert on the Civil War and Reconstruction. His award-winning work provides detail, context and a modern perspective on one of America's most important historical periods.

From CWBN
We are showing this book as published today despite conflicting publication dates.

The Battle of the Crater: A Complete History

by John F. Schmutz

From the publisher:
The Battle of the Crater is one of the lesser known yet most interesting battles of the Civil War. This book, detailing the onset of brutal trench warfare at Petersburg, Virginia, digs deeply into the military and political background of the battle.

Beginning by tracing the rival armies through the bitter conflicts of the Overland Campaign and culminating with the siege of Petersburg and the battle intended to lift that siege, this book offers a candid look at the perception of the campaign by both sides.

70 photos & illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index.

Corporate attorney, Army veteran and longtime Civil War enthusiast John F. Schmutz resides in San Antonio, Texas.

Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era: History and Memory in Late Twentieth-Century America

by Barry Schwartz

From the publisher:
By the 1920s, Abraham Lincoln had transcended the lingering controversies of the Civil War to become a secular saint, honored in North and South alike for his steadfast leadership in crisis. Throughout the Great Depression and World War II, Lincoln was invoked countless times as a reminder of America’s strength and wisdom, a commanding ideal against which weary citizens could see their own hardships in perspective. But as Barry Schwartz reveals in Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era, those years represent the apogee of Lincoln’s prestige.

The decades following World War II brought radical changes to American culture, changes that led to the diminishing of all heroes—Lincoln not least among them. As Schwartz explains, growing sympathy for the plight of racial minorities, disenchantment with the American state, the lessening of patriotism in the wake of the Vietnam War, and an intensifying celebration of diversity, all contributed to a culture in which neither Lincoln nor any single person could be a heroic symbol for all Americans.

Paradoxically, however, the very culture that made Lincoln an object of indifference, questioning, criticism, and even ridicule was a culture of unprecedented beneficence and inclusion, where racial, ethnic, and religious groups treated one another more fairly and justly than ever before. Thus, as the prestige of the Great Emancipator shrank, his legacy of equality continued to flourish.

Drawing on a stunning range of sources—including films, cartoons, advertisements, surveys, shrine visitations, public commemorations, and more—Schwartz documents the decline of Lincoln’s public standing, asking throughout whether there is any path back from this post-heroic era. Can a new generation of Americans embrace again their epic past, including great leaders whom they know to be flawed? As the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial approaches, readers will discover here a stirring reminder that Lincoln, as a man, still has much to say to us—about our past, our present, and our possible futures.

Mutiny at Fort Jackson: The Untold Story of the Fall of New Orleans

by Michael D. Pierson

From the publisher:
New Orleans was the largest city—and one of the richest—in the Confederacy, protected in part by Fort Jackson, which was just sixty-five miles down the Mississippi River. On April 27, 1862, Confederate soldiers at Fort Jackson rose up in mutiny against their commanding officers. New Orleans fell to Union forces soon thereafter. Although the Fort Jackson mutiny marked a critical turning point in the Union's campaign to regain control of this vital Confederate financial and industrial center, it has received surprisingly little attention from historians. Michael Pierson examines newly uncovered archival sources to determine why the soldiers rebelled at such a decisive moment.

The mutineers were soldiers primarily recruited from New Orleans's large German and Irish immigrant populations. Pierson shows that the new nation had done nothing to encourage poor white men to feel they had a place of honor in the southern republic. He argues that the mutineers actively sought to help the Union cause. In a major reassessment of the Union administration of New Orleans that followed, Pierson demonstrates that Benjamin "Beast" Butler enjoyed the support of many white Unionists in the city.

Pierson adds an urban working-class element to debates over the effects of white Unionists in Confederate states. With the personal stories of soldiers appearing throughout, Mutiny at Fort Jackson presents the Civil War from a new perspective, revealing the complexities of New Orleans society and the Confederate experience.

Michael D. Pierson is associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He is author of Free Hearts and Free Homes: Gender and American Antislavery Politics

Mrs. Lincoln: A Life

by Catherine Clinton

From the publisher:
Abraham Lincoln is the most revered president in American history, but the woman at the center of his life, his wife, Mary, has remained a historical enigma. In this definitive, magisterial biography, Catherine Clinton draws on important new research to illuminate the remarkable life of Mary Lincoln, and at a time when the nation was being tested as never before.

Mary Lincoln's story is inextricably tied with the story of America and with her husband's presidency, yet her life is an extraordinary chronicle on its own. Born into an aristocratic Kentucky family, she was an educated, well-connected Southern daughter, and when she married a Springfield lawyer she became a Northern wife—an experience mirrored by thousands of her countrywomen. The Lincolns endured many personal setbacks—including the death of a child and defeats in two U.S. Senate races—along the road to the White House. Mrs. Lincoln herself suffered scorching press attacks, but remained faithful to the Union and her wartime husband. She was also the first presidential wife known as the "First Lady," and it was in this role that she gained her lasting fame. The assassination of her husband haunted her for the rest of her life. Her disintegrating downward spiral resulted in a brief but traumatizing involuntary incarceration in an asylum and exile in Europe during her later years. One of the most tragic and mysterious of nineteenth-century figures, Mary Lincoln and her story symbolize the pain and loss of Civil War America.

Authoritative and utterly engrossing, Mrs. Lincoln is the long-awaited portrait of the woman who so richly contributed to Lincoln's life and legacy.

Lincoln Lessons: Reflections on America's Greatest Leader

by Frank J Williams and William D. Pederson (Editors)

From the publisher:
In Lincoln Lessons, seventeen of today’s most respected academics, historians, lawyers, and politicians provide candid reflections on the importance of Abraham Lincoln in their intellectual lives. Their essays, gathered by editors Frank J. Williams and William D. Pederson, shed new light on this political icon’s remarkable ability to lead and inspire two hundred years after his birth.

Collected here are glimpses into Lincoln’s unique ability to transform enemies into steadfast allies, his deeply ingrained sense of morality and intuitive understanding of humanity, his civil deification as the first assassinated American president, and his controversial suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. The contributors also discuss Lincoln’s influence on today’s emerging democracies, his lasting impact on African American history, and his often-overlooked international legend—his power to instigate change beyond the boundaries of his native nation. While some contributors provide a scholarly look at Lincoln and some take a more personal approach, all explore his formative influence in their lives. What emerges is the true history of his legacy in the form of first-person testaments from those whom he has touched deeply.

Lincoln Lessons brings together some of the best voices of our time in a unique combination of memoir and history. This singular volume of original essays is a tribute to the enduring inspirational powers of an extraordinary man whose courage and leadership continue to change lives today.

Contributors

Jean H. Baker

Mario M. Cuomo

Joan L. Flinspach

Sara Vaughn Gabbard

Doris Kearns Goodwin

HaroldHolzer

Harry V. Jaffa

John F. Marszalek

James M. McPherson

Edna Greene Medford

Sandra Day O’Connor

Mackubin Thomas Owens

William D. Pederson

Edward Steers Jr.

Craig L. Symonds

Thomas Reed Turner

Frank J. Williams

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

The Uncompromising Diary of Sallie McNeill, 1858-1867

by Ginny McNeill Raska (Editor), Mary Lynne Gassoway Hill (Editor)

From the publisher:
In this annotated diary, Sallie McNeill chronicles thoughts, observations, and details of her daily life during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. This remarkably well-preserved document tells McNeill's story from her days as a student in the female department of Baylor College at Independence until her death in 1867. McNeill's story - common to the era and place and still intensely personal - lets readers glimpse the numbing expectations of a young woman's proper behavior, moral referencing of those living under the influence of the second Great Awakening, intellectual questions posed by the education of the day, and the lifestyle of the planter class at the margins of its geographical reach.

GINNY McNEILL RASKA, one of Sallie's descendants, transcribed the original diary. Raska is the Sweeny, Texas, Junior High School librarian. MARY LYNNE GASAWAY HILL attended the archaeological field school at the Levi Jordan plantation. Her doctorate is from Tulane University.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Grant

by John Mosier

From the publisher:
The newest biography in Wesley Clark's Great Generals series details the life and legacy of one of America's most ingenious military minds.

John Mosier is the author of The Myth of the Great War, and from 1989-1992 he edited the New Orleans Review. As a military historian, he received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop an interdisciplinary curriculum for the study of the two world wars. He lives in Jefferson, Louisiana.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Lincoln in His Own Words

by Milton Meltzer and Stephen Alcorn

From the publisher:
A renowned orator and writer, Lincoln believed that he must speak plainly so that every American regardless of their level of education or literacy would understand the complicated issues affecting the country during his presidency. He overcame a very humble childhood to become our nation's sixteenth president and trailblazer in the fight to abolish slavery. In addition to the accomplishments of his lifetime, it is Lincoln's simple but eloquent words- in everything from the Emancipation Proclamation to compassionate and often humorous letters to family and friends- that are his legacy. They are proof of his unfailing dedication to the ideals of freedom, equality, and justice upon which America was founded.

In this comprehensive collection of Lincoln's writings, historian Milton Meltzer provides a rare personal glimpse into the life of the man behind the legendary words.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath

by Gary W. Gallagher (Editor)

From the publisher:
A variety of important but lesser-known dimensions of the Chancellorsville campaign of spring 1863 are explored in this collection of eight original essays. Departing from the traditional focus on generalship and tactics, the contributors address the campaign's broad context and implications and revisit specific battlefield episodes that have in the past been poorly understood.

Chancellorsville was a remarkable victory for Robert E. Lee's troops, a fact that had enormous psychological importance for both sides, which had met recently at Fredericksburg and would meet again at Gettysburg in just two months. But the achievement, while stunning, came at an enormous cost: more than 13,000 Confederates became casualties, including Stonewall Jackson, who was wounded by friendly fire and died several days later.

The topics covered in this volume include the influence of politics on the Union army, the importance of courage among officers, the impact of the war on children, and the state of battlefield medical care. Other essays illuminate the important but overlooked role of Confederate commander Jubal Early, reassess the professionalism of the Union cavalry, investigate the incident of friendly fire that took Stonewall Jackson's life, and analyze the military and political background of Confederate colonel Emory Best's court-martial on charges of abandoning his men.

Contributors:

Keith S. Bohannon, Pennsylvania State University and Greenville, South Carolina
Gary W. Gallagher, Pennsylvania State University
A. Wilson Greene, Petersburg, Virginia
John J. Hennessy, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Robert K. Krick, Fredericksburg, Virginia
James Marten, MarquetteUniversity
Carol Reardon, Pennsylvania State University
James I. Robertson, Jr., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Gary W. Gallagher is John L. Nau III Professor of History at the University of Virginia. His books include Stephen Dodson Ramseur: Lee's Gallant General.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858, Vol. 1

by Don E. Fehrenbacher (Editor)

From the publisher:
Don E. Fehrenbacher (1920-1997), whom the historian George Fredrickson called "the foremost Lincoln scholar of his generation," was professor of history at Stanford University and the author of several books, including Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850's, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics, and Lincoln in Text and Context. Shortly before his death, he was awarded the 1997 Lincoln Prize, the nation's highest annual award for Civil War studies.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Mr. Lincoln's High-tech War

by Roger MacBride Allen and Thomas B. Allen

From the publisher:
Thomas B. Allen’s expertise in military history and strategy is combined with Roger MacBride Allen’s knowledge of technology to reveal a lesser-known yet fascinating side of the 16th president of the United States. Their authoritative narrative reveals Lincoln as our nation’s first hands-on Commander-in-Chief, whose appreciation for the power of technology plays a critical role in the North’s Civil War victory over the less developed South.

Readers meet Lincoln as he exchanges vital telegraph messages with his generals in the field; we witness his inspection of new ship models at the Navy Yard; we view the president target-shooting with the designer of a new kind of rifle; and we follow Lincoln, the man of action, as he leads a daring raid to recapture Norfolk, VA.

The book’s historic sweep also sets Abraham Lincoln in the context of his military era: we learn about the North’s Anaconda Plan, the South’s counter strategies, and how the concept of total war replaced the old Napoleonic way of fighting. Readers will come away with a rich sense of a leader who lived through one of the most exciting ages of technological and social change in America. With archival photographs, artwork, and maps, Mr. Lincoln’s High-Tech War brings alive a time when the railroad brought soldiers and to and from the battlefields, when hot-air balloons were used for surveillance, and when ironclad warships revolutionized naval warfare.

The Allens’ detailed study demonstrates why Lincoln’s appreciation of the importance of technology, his understanding of the art of war, and his mastery of military strategy were keyelements in the winning of the American Civil War.

Thomas B. Allen has written several military history and espionage titles, including the highly acclaimed Remember Pearl Harbor and George Washington, Spymaster for National Geographic Children’s Books. He lives in Takoma Park, MD.

Roger MacBride Allen is the author of 17 science fiction novels. This is his first book for National Geographic Children’s Books and his first book for children.

From CWBN
This book's exact release date is unknown but falls within this month.

Antietam Trivia

by John Hoptak

From the publisher:
Test your knowledge of the Battle of Antietam! This 48 page book contains over 150 questions relating to the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Antietam Trivia is much more than a simple question-and-answer book. Following each answer, you will find an additional Did You Know. . . ? feature that is intended to increase your understanding of the battle of Antietam. The questions, which range in level of difficulty from the general to the obscure, were written by Antietam Park Ranger John Hoptak and are designed for both the beginner and the buff.

Abraham Lincoln: A Life

by Thomas Keneally

From the publisher:
The ideal concise biography of an American icon — now available in paperback for the bicentennial of his birth

The self-made man from a log cabin, the great orator, the Emancipator, the Savior of the Union, the martyr—Lincoln’s story is at the very heart of American history. But who was he, really? In this outstanding biography, award-winning author Thomas Keneally follows Lincoln from his impoverished birth through his education and presidency. From the development of his political philosophy to his troubled family life and his actions during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln is an incisive study of a turning point in our history and a revealing portrait of a pivotal figure.

"They Have Killed Papa Dead!": The Road to Ford's Theatre, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance

by Anthony Pitch

From the publisher:
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln is a central drama of the American experience. Its impact is felt to this day, and the basic story is known to all. Anthony Pitch’s thrilling account of the Lincoln conspiracy and its aftermath transcends the mere facts of that awful night during which dashing actor John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in the head and would-be assassin Lewis Payne butchered Secretary of State William Seward in the bed of his own home. “They Have Killed Papa Dead!” transports the reader to one of the most breathtaking moments in history, and reveals much that is new about the stories, passions, and times of those who shaped this great tragedy.

Virtually every word of Anthony Pitch’s account is based on primary source material: new quotes from previously unpublished diaries, letters and journals – authentic contemporary voices writing with freshness and clarity as eyewitnesses or intimate participants – new images, a new vision and understanding of one of America’s defining moments. With an unwavering fidelity to historical accuracy, Pitch provides new confirmation of threats against the president-elect’s life as he traveled to Washington by train for his first inauguration, and a vivid personal account of John Wilkes Booth being physically restrained from approaching Lincoln at his second inauguration. Perhaps most chillingly, new details come to light about conditions in the special prison where the civilian conspirators accused of participating in the Lincoln assassination endured tortuous conditions in extreme isolation and deprivation, hooded and shackled, before and even during their military trial. Pitch masterfully synthesizes the findings of his prodigious research into a tight, gripping narrative that adds important new insights to our national story.

The Best American History Essays on Lincoln

by the Organization of American Historians, Sean Wilentz (Editor)

From the publisher:
This new volume in the Best American History Essays series brings together classic writing from top American historians on one of our greatest presidents. Ranging from incisive assessments of his political leadership, to explorations of his enigmatic character, to reflections on the mythos that has become inseparable from the man, each of these contributions expands our understanding of Abraham Lincoln and shows why he has been such an object of enduring fascination. Contributions include: James McPherson on Lincoln the military strategist; Richard Hofstadter on the Lincoln legend; Edmund Wilson on his contribution to American letters; John Hope Franklin on the Emancipation Proclamation; James Horton on Lincoln and race; David M. Potter on the secession; Richard Current on Lincoln's political genius; Mark Neely on Lincoln and civil liberties.

Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union

by Paul and Stephen Kendrick

From the publisher:
This book charts the influence Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln had on each other and on the nation altered the course of slavery and the outcome of the Civil War.

Although Abraham Lincoln deeply opposed the existence of slavery, he saw his mission throughout much of the Civil War as preserving the Union, with or without slavery. Frederick Douglass, a former slave, passionately believed the war’s central mission to be the total abolition of slavery. During their meetings between 1863 and 1865, and through reading each other’s speeches and letters, they managed to forge a strong, mutual understanding and respect that helped convince Lincoln the war could not be truly won without black soldiers and permanent emancipation.

Concise Historical Atlas of the U.S. Civil War

by Aaron Sheehan-Dean

From the publisher:
There are few events as central to the American historical consciousness as the Civil War, which is a fascinating area of interest for students and general readers alike. One of the most efficient ways to study a war is with an atlas; however, most of the atlases devoted to this period focus almost exclusively on military movements and are prohibitively expensive for use in undergraduate courses. Offering a striking and reasonably priced alternative to these books, the Concise Historical Atlas of the U.S. Civil War is the only atlas that includes data maps and covers key issues before and after the war years. It balances military and non-military coverage, presenting maps that deal with political and social changes as well as campaign and battle maps.

Laid out chronologically and representing the complexity of the war both visually and textually, Concise Historical Atlas of the U.S. Civil War is an ideal study aid. Through detailed presentation of physical geography, it highlights the role of the landscape in troop movements and in social and demographic developments. Students can follow all the major campaigns of both the eastern and western theaters, examine the tactical movements in the major battles, and explore the geographic patterns behind issues like emancipation, occupation, and internal conflicts. The atlas features maps dealing with such subjects as economic capacity (both agricultural and industrial), enlistment rates, and the movement of escaped slaves. The maps also integrate information on the divisions that existed within the North and the South themselves.

Accessible to students with limited geographic knowledge, the maps are clearly labeled, with key features marked. Each map is accompanied by a short narrative that provides helpful contextual information.

Featuring uniquely comprehensive coverage, the Concise Historical Atlas of the U.S. Civil War includes several maps situating the conflict in its antebellum origins as well as maps--of politics, sharecropping, and race relations--that extend the story through the end of Reconstruction. Ideal for use in U.S. Civil War History, Civil War and Reconstruction, and Southern History courses, this volume offers both novice and more experienced students new perspectives on the most significant events and circumstances of the era.

Aaron Sheehan-Dean is a Professor of History at the University of North Florida.

"This unique atlas includes the usual maps of military campaigns and battles--but much more besides. The maps illustrating political and social developments during Reconstruction as well as the Civil War are a valuable feature not found in other atlases. The essays accompanying each map offer a concise history of the era as an added bonus."--James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"This atlas meets a longstanding need in the field of Civil War-era studies by presenting a wealth of military, political, social, and economic information in an easy-to-use format. Its combination of clear maps and Aaron Sheehan-Dean's perceptive accompanying text should appeal to a wide audience of both beginning and veteran students."--Gary W. Gallagher, author of Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten

"I was initially skeptical of the need for another Civil War atlas. This one provides easy-to-understand maps and text for the general student. It simplifies some complex information without being simplistic."--Mackubin Thomas Owens, Professor of National Security Studies, U.S. Naval War College

Antietam, South Mountain, and Harpers Ferry: A Battlefield Guide

by Ethan S. Rafuse

From the publisher:
In September 1862 the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac conducted one of the truly great campaigns of the Civil War. At South Mountain, Harpers Ferry, and Antietam, North and South clashed in engagements whose magnitude and importance would earn this campaign a distinguished place in American military history. The siege of Harpers Ferry produced the largest surrender of U.S. troops in the nation’s history until World War II, while the day-long battle at Antietam on September 17 still holds the distinction of being the single bloodiest day of combat in American history.

This invaluable book provides a clear, convenient, stop-by-stop guide to the sites in Maryland and West Virginia associated with the Antietam campaign, including excursions to Harpers Ferry and South Mountain. Thorough descriptions and analyses, augmented with vignettes and numerous maps, convey the mechanics as well as the human experience of the campaign, making this book the perfect companion for both serious students of the Civil War and casual visitors to its battlefields.

Ethan S. Rafuse is an associate professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He is the author of several books, including McClellan’s War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union, and is the coeditor of The Ongoing Civil War: New Versions of Old Stories.

"Excellent guides at a reasonable price, written by experts on the battle."—James Durney, Suncoast Civil War Society Newsletter

“A refreshing and original study of America’s bloodiest day that is free of the clichés found in some previous works on this subject. Using original sources and consulting the latest scholarship on Antietam, Rafuse has written a superb battle and campaign study.”—Ted Alexander, chief historian of Antietam National Battlefield

“Insightful and informed, written in a graceful style, with excellent maps, Antietam, South Mountain, and Harpers Ferry: A Battlefield Guide will be an invaluable resource for the Civil War aficionado, as well as the casual visitor to the battlefield.”—Edwin C. Bearss, chief historian emeritus of the National Park Service

“Teems with incisive narratives, telling vignettes, and astute analysis. First-time visitors and seasoned students of the Civil War alike can learn much by consulting this work before, during, and after they tour the site of the costliest single day in American military history.”—Carol Reardon, professor of military history at Pennsylvania State University

More Damning than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army

by Mark A. Weitz

From the publisher:
More Damning than Slaughter is the first broad study of desertion in the Confederate army.

Incorporating extensive archival research with a synthesis of other secondary material, Mark A. Weitz confronts a question never fully addressed until now: did desertion hurt the Confederacy? Coupled with problems such as speculation, food and clothing shortages, conscription, taxation, and a pervasive focus on the protection of local interests, desertion started as a military problem and spilled over into the civilian world.

Fostered by a military culture that treated absenteeism leniently early in the war, desertion steadily increased and by 1863 reached epidemic proportions. A Union policy that permitted Confederate deserters to swear allegiance to the Union and then return home encouraged desertion. Equally important in persuading men to desert was the direct appeal from loved ones on the home front - letters from wives begging soldiers to come home for harvests, births, and other events.

By 1864 deserter bands infested some portion of every Confederate state. Preying on the civilian population, many of these bands became irregular military units that frustrated virtually every effort to subdue them. Ultimately, desertion not only depleted the Confederate army but also threatened 'home' and undermined civilian morale.

By examining desertion, Weitz assesses how deteriorating southern civilian morale and growing unwillingness to contribute goods and services to the war led to defeat.

Mark A. Weitz is the former director of the Civil War Era Studies Program at Gettysburg College. He is the author of "A Higher Duty: Desertion among Georgia Troops" during the American Civil War

Faces of the Confederacy: An Album of Southern Soldiers and Their Stories

by Ronald S. Coddington

From the publisher:

"A charming book for enthusiasts, and a tribute to the excellent detective work of the author." -- Elizabeth D. Leonard, Colby College

"Ronald S. Coddington has scored a masterpiece again. As a follow-up to his much applauded Faces of the Civil War featuring Union soldiers and sailors, he has authored a sequel. This time Confederates are center stage as they proudly pose for the all-important cartes de visite that are as treasured today by collectors and buffs as by their home folks and comrades of long ago. Complementing these are biographical profiles that inform but do not overwhelm, reminding us that each haunting face is a real person who lived, served and died many years ago." -- Edwin C. Bearss, National Park Service

"With his meticulous research and a journalist's eye for good stories, Ron Coddington has brought new life to Civil War photographic portraits of obscure and long-forgotten Confederates whose wartime experiences might otherwise have been lost to history. This is more than just a fine compilation of Civil War photographs." -- Bob Zeller, Center for Civil War Photography

"Ron Coddington has produced a fine new volume that will take its place beside William A. Albaugh's Confederate Faces and several other Confederate photographic histories. Faces of the Confederacy continues the tradition of publishing Confederate soldier portraits, but instead of the standard fare of somewhat small photographs and brief captions, he provides us with full page pictures and the thoroughly researched stories of each individual depicted, widening our understanding of these men far beyond the normal presentation. In the world of Civil War photography, it is rare to find something that is truly new, but this book fits that bill." -- Les Jensen, West Point Museum

On to Atlanta: The Civil War Diaries of John Hill Ferguson, Illinois Tenth Regiment of Volunteers

by John Hill Ferguson (Author), Janet Correll Ellison (Editor), Mark A. Weitz (Editor)

From the publisher:
Historians have shown us the drama and sweep of the swathe Sherman's March cut through the South. Officers have bequeathed us accounts of what happened in strategic and practical terms. But for a gritty, day-by-day, on-the-ground view of what the march to Atlanta meant to the common soldier, nothing can compare to the diary of an enlisted man like John Hill Ferguson.

A Scottish immigrant and a U.S. citizen since 1856, Ferguson enlisted in the Illinois Veteran Volunteers in 1860 and shortly afterward began to keep a diary. The annotated entries presented here, from 1864 and 1865, describe life in the Tenth Illinois as the troops made their way through the Carolinas and Georgia under Sherman. In these pages the details of Civil War soldiering become real, immediate, and personal, as do the daily dramas of life on the march. Smallpox struck Ferguson's unit early on, decimating his company; food, when there was any, was invariably poor; and always Confederate defenders waited up ahead, exacting a heavy toll on the advancing Northerners. These events and details, conveyed with all the force of Ferguson's fine intellect and superior powers of observation, offer an unforgettable firsthand view of that savage contest.

Reluctant Partners: Nashville and the Union, 1863–1865

by Walter T. Durham

From the publisher:
In 1862, Nashville became the first Southern state capital to be captured by the Union Army; that occupation would not end until after the Civil War's conclusion in 1865. In two incisive books, first published more than twenty years ago and available once more for a new generation of readers, Walter T. Durham traces occupied Nashville's reluctant transition from Rebel stronghold to partner of the Union.

Together, Nashville and Reluctant Partners highlight the importance of local history within Civil War scholarship and assess the impact of the war on people other than combat soldiers and places other than battlefields. Nashville examines the first seventeen months of the Union occupation, showing how the local population coped with the sudden presence of an enemy force. It also explores the role of military governor Andrew Johnson and how he asserted his authority over the city. Reluctant Partners depicts a city coming to grips with the rapidly fading prospect of a Confederate victory and how, faced with this reality, its citizens began to cooperate with Johnson and the Union. Their reward was a booming economy and scant battle damage.

With new prefaces discussing the two decades of scholarship that have emerged since these books' original appearance, these volumes offer an absorbing view of Union occupation at the most local of levels. Durham's volumes remain at the forefront of reconsidering the Civil War in the Upper South. Students and scholars of the Civil War-particularly in its social dimensions-as well as devotees of Tennessee history will find these new editions invaluable.

Walter T. Durham is the author of seventeen books, including Balie Peyton of Tennessee: Nineteenth-Century Politics and Thoroughbreds and Volunteer Forty-niners: Tennesseans and the California Gold Rush. He has been the Tennessee state historian since 2002.

Nashville: The Occupied City, 1862-1863

by Walter T. Durham

From the publisher:
In 1862, Nashville became the first Southern state capital to be captured by the Union Army; that occupation would not end until after the Civil War's conclusion in 1865. In two incisive books, first published more than twenty years ago and available once more for a new generation of readers, Walter T. Durham traces occupied Nashville's reluctant transition from Rebel stronghold to partner of the Union.

Together, Nashville and Reluctant Partners highlight the importance of local history within Civil War scholarship and assess the impact of the war on people other than combat soldiers and places other than battlefields. Nashville examines the first seventeen months of the Union occupation, showing how the local population coped with the sudden presence of an enemy force. It also explores the role of military governor Andrew Johnson and how he asserted his authority over the city. Reluctant Partners depicts a city coming to grips with the rapidly fading prospect of a Confederate victory and how, faced with this reality, its citizens began to cooperate with Johnson and the Union. Their reward was a booming economy and scant battle damage.

With new prefaces discussing the two decades of scholarship that have emerged since these books' original appearance, these volumes offer an absorbing view of Union occupation at the most local of levels. Durham's volumes remain at the forefront of reconsidering the Civil War in the Upper South. Students and scholars of the Civil War-particularly in its social dimensions-as well as devotees of Tennessee history will find these new editions invaluable.

Walter T. Durham is the author of seventeen books, including Balie Peyton of Tennessee: Nineteenth-Century Politics and Thoroughbreds and Volunteer Forty-niners: Tennesseans and the California Gold Rush. He has been the Tennessee state historian since 2002.

Virginia at War, 1863

by William C. Davis (Editor), James I. Robertson (Editor)

From the publisher:
Between the epic battles of 1862 and the grueling and violent military campaigns that would follow, the year 1863 was oddly quiet for the Confederate state of Virginia. Only one major battle was fought on its soil, at Chancellorsville, and the conflict was one of the Army of Northern Virginia’s greatest victories. Yet the pressures of the Civil War turned the daily lives of Virginians—young and old, men and women, civilians and soldiers—into battles of their own.

Despite minimal combat, 1863 was an eventful year in Virginia history—Stonewall Jackson died within its borders and Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. In Virginia at War, 1863, editors William C. Davis and James I. Robertson Jr. present these and other key events, as well as a discussion of the year’s military land operations to reveal the political, social, and cultural ramifications of the ongoing national conflict.

By this time, the war had profoundly transformed nearly every aspect of Virginia life and culture, from education to religion to commerce. Mounting casualties and depleted resources made the citizens of the Commonwealth feel the deprivations of war more deeply than ever. Virginia at War, 1863 surveys these often overlooked elements of the conflict. Contributors focus on the war’s impact on Virginia’s children and its newly freed slaves. They shed light on the origins of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, explore the popularity of scrapbooking as a form of personal recordkeeping, and consider the changing role of religion during wartime and the uncertain faith of Virginia’s Christians. The book concludes with the 1863 entries of the Diary of a Southern Refugee by Richmond’s Judith Brockenbrough McGuire.

At the midpoint of the Civil War, the hostility of this great American struggle had become an ingrained part of Virginia life. Virginia at War, 1863 is the third volume of a five-book series that reexamines the Commonwealth’s history as an integral part of the Confederacy. The series looks beyond military campaigns and tactics to consider how the war forever changed the people, culture, and society of Virginia.

The Making of a Southerner: William Barclay Napton's Private Civil War

by Christopher Phillips

From the publisher:
William B. Napton was an editor, lawyer, and state supreme court justice who lived in Missouri during the tumultuous American nineteenth century. The highly educated former New Jerseyite became the owner or trustee of nearly fifty slaves and a proslavery ideologue. His story offers insights into the process of southernization, one driven more by sectional ideology and politics than by elements of a distinctive southern culture.

Napton s southern evolution was only completed after he had constructed a politicized memory of the Civil War. By suffering for the South, he claimed by right what he could not by birth. Napton became a southerner by choice.

Christopher Phillips is Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati. He is the author of four previous books, including Missouri s Confederate: Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Creation of Southern Identity in the Border West and coeditor of The Union on Trial: The Political Journals of Judge William Barclay Napton, 1829 1883, both available from the University of Missouri Press.

Lincoln's Assassins: A Complete Account of Their Capture, Trial, and Punishment

by Roy Z. Chamlee Jr.

From the publisher:
A stunning compilation of research into War Department files, pretrial and trial testimony (the actual words), newspaper accounts and manuscript collections.

Powerful Cabinet members, popular generals, forceful politicians and others: This book probes the background and character of everyone involved.

Roy Z. Chamlee, Jr., lives in Nashville, Tennessee.