New Arrival: • Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant by John Reeves (Pegasus Bks, 2023). This is a focused Grant biography that appears rather unique in its main theme. Unfortunately, there isn't an introduction to provide a more detailed summary of the narrative thrust, but the table of contents reveals that the period of Grant's life and career covered ..read more

Scheduled for DEC 20231: • Our People Are Warlike: Civil War Pittsburgh and Home-Front Mobilization by Allen York. • Silent Cavalry: How Union Soldiers from Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlanta—And Then Got Written Out of History by Howell Raines. • The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Gettysburg Retreat Through the ..read more

[Conflict of Command: George McClellan, Abraham Lincoln, and the Politics of War by George C. Rable (Louisiana State University Press, 2023). Hardcover, 4 maps, photos, illustrations, notes, bibligraphy, index. Pages main/total:xii,336/488. ISBN:978-0-8071-7977-2. $49.95] As revealed through every passing year's crop of Civil War books, the troubled relationship between President Abraham ..read more

New Arrival: • Contrasts in Command: The Battle of Fair Oaks, May 31 - June 1, 1862 by Victor Vignola (Savas Beatie, 2023). As is the case with a number of 1862 Peninsula Campaign battles, it's been a long wait for a fresh study of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines to appear. The last substantial treatment, a slim volume, was authored by Steven Newton and published back in 1993 by H.E. Howard. It's still a ..read more

New Arrival: • Fighting for a Free Missouri: German Immigrants, African Americans, and the Issue of Slavery edited by Sydney J. Norton (Univ of Mo Pr, 2023). Directly challenging Missouri's native-born, proslavery majority on ideological, social, and political grounds, heavy German immigration into the state during the years leading up to the Civil War rapidly transformed Missouri society ..read more

With publishing schedules for the first six months of next year largely solidified by now, let's look at some of the titles that have caught my eye the most. The following ten books are listed in rough chronological order of release, though dates are always subject to change. 1. The Old War Horse: The USS Benton on Western Waters, 1853-1865 by Myron Smith (McFarland). I am glad my earlier ..read more

New Arrival: • Stories from the Antietam Campaign: A Historical Remembrance by Jimmy Keenan (Author, 2023). Stories from the Antietam Campaign describes itself as "a collection of random articles related to the Confederate Army’s invasion of Maryland in September 1862." As explained by author Jimmy Keenan in his prologue, the Antietam article forms found in this book were directly inspired by ..read more

• Dan and Marilyn Laney Prize: Jeffry Wert for The Heart of Hell: The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle (UNC) [site review]. • Richard Barksdale Harwell Book Award: Jeffry Wert for The Heart of Hell: The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle (UNC) [site review]. • A.M. Pate Award: (TBA in January) • Albert Castel Book Award: (This is a biennial prize awarded ..read more

New Arrival: • Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves edited by Brian Matthew Jordan & Jonathan W. White (UGA Press, 2023). From the description: Final Resting Places "brings together some of the most important and innovative scholars of the Civil War era to reflect on what death and memorialization meant to the Civil War generation―and how those meanings still ..read more

New Arrival: • Anatomy of a Duel: Secession, Civil War, and the Evolution of Kentucky Violence by Stuart W. Sanders (UP of Kentucky, 2023). When I think of Civil War duels, ones actually carried out and properly conducted under the agreed upon rules of the time, the only affair that immediately comes to mind is the fatal September 1863 encounter in Arkansas between Confederate generals John S ..read more