The Bookshelf

If surrender never quite 'defined' the war, this book makes clear that it unquestionably suffused it.

In his latest book, "Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth" (to be published this fall by the University of North Carolina Press), Boston-based historian and educator Kevin M. Levin tackles the enduring

Bierle never loses sight of the fact that the battle did not occur in some remote hinterland, but rather in a larger community.

Chickamauga was a grim first outing for the Alabamians.

Reidy does not see a single point, a single event, or a single historical figure as responsible for emancipation.

Unable to compel Sherman to attack, Hood trundled west into Alabama and changed his objective.

The author shows how a superior general staff...helped wrest the initiative away from Lee's army as the war in the Eastern Theater dragged on.

[S]tands at the edge of a field of historical inquiry that is sure to gain greater currency among historians...

Much like Alcott's work, Seiple's narrative leaps off the page.

...a marvelous book that contains fascinating analysis about French diplomacy...demonstrates how historians have too long made France into a junior partner of Great Britain.