Bookstore - American Civil War

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These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory
by Thomas A. Desjardin

Hardcover - 288 pages; DaCapo Press; (November 11, 2003)

How did the story of Gettysburg evolve? How did the battle become a legend? And how much truth is behind the myth? Thomas A. Desjardin, a prominent Civil War historian and keen cultural observer, shows how flawed our knowledge of this enormous event has become, and why that has happened. It is, in effect, the extraordinary biography of a story-the story of Gettysburg. It also shows how Americans have shaped, used, altered, and sanctified our national memory, fashioning the story of Gettysburg as a reflection of, and testimony to, our culture and our nation.

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavry in America
by Allen C. Guelzo

Hardcover - 352 pages; Simon & Schuster; (February 12, 2004)

No other words in American history changed the lives of so many Americans as this plain, blunt declaration from Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. But no other words in American history have been so often passed over or held up to greater suspicion. Born in the struggle of Lincoln's determination to set slavery on the path to destruction, it has remained a document of struggle, as conflicting interpretations and historical mysteries swirl around it. What were Lincoln's real intentions? Was he the Great Emancipator or just a Great Fixer? What slaves did the Proclamation actually free? Or did the slaves free themselves? Why is the language of the Proclamation so bland, so legalistic, so far from the soaring eloquence of the Gettysburg Address?

Landscape Turned Red : The Battle of Antietam
by Stephen W. Sears .

Paperback 448 pages; Mariner Books; (June 30, 2003)

The Civil War battle waged on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, was one of the bloodiest in the nation's history: in this single day, the war claimed nearly 23,000 casualties. In Landscape Turned Red, the renowned historian Stephen Sears draws on a remarkable cache of diaries, dispatches, and letters to recreate the vivid drama of Antietam as experienced not only by its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate.

Blood and Irony: Southern White Women's Narratives of the Civil War, 1861-1937
by Sarah E. Gardner.

Hardcover: 341 pages ; Univ of North Carolina Pr; (January 2004)

During the Civil War, its devastating aftermath, and the decades following, many southern white women turned to writing as a way to make sense of their experiences. Combining varied historical and literary sources, Sarah Gardner argues that women served as guardians of the collective memory of the war and helped define and reshape southern identity.

Lincoln & Davis : Imagining America, 1809-1865
by Brian R. Dirck .

Hardcover - 344 pages (November 2001) Univ Pr of Kansas
Dirck's book provides a splendid comparative analysis of how the main protagonists' upbringing and everyday lives shaped the characters of Lincoln and Davis and colored their respective perceptions of America as a national community.

Jefferson Davis, American
by William J. Cooper, Jr.

Paperback - 864 pages (November 13, 2001) Vintage Books
From Booklist: Cooper (The American South , 1990) constructs his straightforward, detailed biography of Jefferson Davis around a central question: "How did a patriotic American come to lead the great struggle to destroy the United States?" In following the stages of Davis' political career and personal life, the reader sees that prior to his assumption of the office of Confederate president, having served as U.S. senator from Mississippi and secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce, Davis was a well-established leader in U.S. politics. The reader also sees that Davis was a man of his time in terms of the ideas he held on race and slavery. Most importantly, it is made quite clear that Davis' principles were firmly held, including a belief that "secession was constitutional, and [consequently] his loyalty to Mississippi underlay his allegiance to the United States." Brad Hooper Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

The South Vs. the South : How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War
by William W. Freehling

Hardcover - 192 pages (February 2001) Oxford Univ Pr (Trade)

A masterful account of the South's internal "house divided."

The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History
by Gary W. Gallagher , Alan T. Nolan (editors)

Hardcover - 256 pages (November 2000) Indiana University Press
From Booklist: The South lost the Civil War, but southerners have certainly held their own in the postwar battle to shape historical interpretations of the conflict. Southern politicians, war veterans, and historians successfully promoted the "Lost Cause" view of the origins and results of our national nightmare. The South, so the story goes, wanted to preserve its unique culture, and slavery was not a fundamental basis of that culture. Led by valiant gentlemen-officers (e.g., Robert E. Lee) and brave, defiant common soldiers, the Confederacy struggled against insurmountable odds, eventually succumbing to numerically but not morally superior forces. This collection of essays by nine Civil War scholars shows how the myth was consciously propagated by southerners, often in an attempt to rationalize the physical and social carnage left by the war. These essays are well reasoned and timely, given current controversies raging over the display of the Confederate battle flag. This will be a valuable addition to Civil War collections. Jay Freeman Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

A Great Civil War : A Military and Political History, 1861-1865
by Russell F. Weigley

Hardcover - 624 pages (August 2000) Indiana University Press
Written by a highly regarded US military historian, this book does a solid job of explaining why the Civil war happened, how it was fought, and why the North prevailed in the end. Dr. Weigley has done a nice job of adding his voice to the current discussion of the war by some of today's best historians.

All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies
by Elizabeth D. Leonard

Hardcover - 320 pages (June 1, 1999) W.W. Norton & Company
Leonard recounts the stories of dozens of women who joined the war effort, such as Richard Anderson, a.k.a. Amy Clarke, who fought with her Confederate cavalry regiment at the battle of Shiloh. Other women served as "Daughters of the Regiment," doing everything from serving as mascots and nurses to bearing regimental colors in battle and even fighting in combat. Still others engaged in espionage, such as Elizabeth Van Lew, who hid behind a cultivated persona and the nickname Crazy Bet so that she could spy for the Union.

Controversies and Commanders: Dispatches from the Army of the Potomac by Stephen W. Sears

Paperback - 320 pages (August 10, 2000) Houghton Mifflin Co
This collection of feisty essays delivers well-argued and persuasive assessments of Union military leadership during the Civil War. Topics include the historiography of McClellan, the near-criminal conduct of Congress and War Secretary Edwin Stanton in the matter of General Charles P. Stone's arrest , and a spirited defense of General "Fighting Joe" Hooker. One particular highlight is Sears's chapter on Robert E. Lee's so-called Lost Order, which revealed Confederate battle plans before Antietam and helped the Union secure an invaluable advantage.

A Brotherhood of Valor : The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, C.S.A., and the Iron Brigade, U.S.A
by Jeffry D. Wert

Paperback - 416 pages (March 2000) Touchstone Books
The Stonewall Brigade, composed mainly of Virginians from the Shenandoah Valley, proved its mettle at First Manassas and never let up--even after its esteemed leader was shot down at Chancellorsville. Their equally elite counterparts in the Army of the Potomac were known as the Iron Brigade, hardy westerners drawn from Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan. By focusing on these two groups, historian Jeffry Wert retells the story of the Civil War's eastern theater as it was experienced by these ordinary men from North and South.

The Dahlgren Affair : Terror and Conspiracy in the Civil War
by Duane Schultz

Paperback - 298 pages (December 1999) W.W. Norton & Company
Author Duane Schultz offers a fascinating chronicle of Civil War espionage in this account of the infamous Dahlgren raid, a bold attempt by a small detachment of Union cavalry to free prisoners of war held by the Confederates in Richmond. The effort failed, but its consequences were enormous; allegedly found among slain commander Ulric Dahlgren's papers was an order to assassinate Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Maps of the Civil War : The Roads They Took
by David Phillips

Hardcover 160 pages ; Metro Books; (December 31, 2003)
Drawn from the vast resource of the Library of Congress historical maps division, this oversize, invaluable atlas offers a unique assortment of more than 150 full-color and black-and-white paintings, photographs and both specially commissioned and Civil War era maps. Through these indispensable images, travel the battlefields whose names are indelibly inscribed on the pages of American history. Organized by year and by the battles that occurred within each year, they present a comprehensive overview of the Civil War as a whole, showing how the fortunes of the North and South shifted as each conflict unfolded. Many of these maps are rare and never before published, and some were drawn by soldiers who actually participated in the battles in question. In addition, each battle receives in-depth coverage, with fascinating background history and tactical analyses.

Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War
by Earl B. McElfresh, Stephen W. Sears

Hardcover - 272 pages (October 1999) Harry N Abrams
During the Civil War, a good map could spell the difference between victory and defeat. This book collects, for the first time, the war's most notable, interesting, and beautiful maps-and tells the story of how they were made. Ranging from exquisitely detailed renderings reproduced in full color to rough pencil sketches drawn from horseback, these maps-many never before reproduced-are both striking works of art and invaluable historical artifacts.

Fire Within : A Civil War Narrative from Wisconsin
by Kerry A. Trask

Paperback - 294 pages Reprint edition (March 1998) Kent State Univ Pr;
The author uses diaries, letters, and newspaper articles to weave together personal viewpoints on wartime events, reflecting the impact of the Civil War on Wisconsin citizens at war and at home. Central to the account are the letters and diaries of a young Scottish immigrant enlisted in the 5th Wisconsin Volunteers, and the journal of Rosa Kellner, a teenage innkeeper in Manitowoc.

Battle Cry of Freedom
by James M. McPherson

Paperback Reissue edition (February 1989) Ballantine Books
Pulitzer Prize-Winning history of the Civil War. Referred to as "..the definitive one-volume history of the Civil War" (N.Y. Times), this book is valuable as either a primer for beginners, or as a reference book for experts.

Civil War Medicine : Care & Comfort of the Wounded
by Robert E. Denney

Paperback (October 1995) Sterling Publications
Denney explores the history of medical treatment during the Civil War, using firsthand accounts from letters, journals, reports, and diaries from both sides of the conflict, arranged chronologically from January 1862 to October 1865. Includes b&w photos. (Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.)