The Bookshelf

The digital home of book reviews and author interviews—and your source of the most up-to-date information on all things Civil War literature

Published 9/20/2023

HARRIS: Lincoln Illuminated and Remembered (2023)

By: Brian Matthew Jordan Category: Book Reviews

Across a career spanning nearly six decades, historian William C. Harris has produced important books on virtually every facet of the sixteenth president’s life.

Published 9/13/2023

OWENS: Consent in the Presence of Force (2023)

By: Evan C. Rothera Category: Book Reviews

Emily Owens's "Consent in the Presence of Force" offers both a cultural history of violence in the antebellum U.S. South and an intellectual history of Black women’s survival.

Published 9/6/2023

ROGER HEPBURN (ed.): Private No More (2023)

By: George C. Rable Category: Book Reviews

Sharon A. Roger Hepburn has undertaken an extremely challenging task and performed it superbly in "Private No More."

Published 8/30/2023

ORR: The Battle of Gettysburg 1863 (2023)

By: Cecily N. Zander Category: Book Reviews

Timothy J. Orr's "The Battle of Gettysburg 1863" is a perfect guide for battlefield visitors....and a handy reference for scholars.

Published 8/23/2023

NUNLEY: The Demands of Justice (2023)

By: Evan C. Rothera Category: Book Reviews

Tamika Nunley's "The Demands of Justice" explores what justice looked like under slavery.

Published 8/16/2023

GOODYEAR: President Garfield (2023)

By: Brian Matthew Jordan Category: Book Reviews

C.W. Goodyear is determined to give James A. Garfield a fresh look.

Published 8/9/2023

GREENIDGE: The Grimkes (2022)

By: John Frederick Bell Category: Book Reviews

Kerri Greenidge's "The Grimkes" is a staggering feat of research and storytelling.

Published 8/2/2023

O'NEILL: Small but Important Riots (2023)

By: Gordon Berg Category: Book Reviews

In "Small but Important Riots," Robert F. O'Neill recounts the roiling cauldron of small unit actions at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville.

Published 7/26/2023

LOVOLL: Colonel Hans Christian Heg (2023)

By: Niels Eichorn Category: Book Reviews

Odd Lovoll's "Colonel Hans Christian Heg" adds to a well-established literature on immigrants who served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War.

Published 7/19/2023

FOWLER: The Grammar of Civil War (2022)

By: Evan C. Rothera Category: Book Reviews

Anyone interested in civil wars throughout world history should read Will Fowler's "The Grammar of Civil War."