With
The Fight for the Old North State set for release in a matter of days, I've been able to read several books recently including titles related to operations in Virginia in 1863 (a new project) as well as some books outside of my usual research and writing focus. Here are some brief thoughts on a few noteworthy ones:
Lee's Maverick General: Daniel Harvey Hill by Hal Bridges (McGraw-Hill: 1961; Reprint, Nebraska: 1991). First published nearly 60 years ago, Bridges work remains the standard biography of
this intelligent, aggressive, and quarrelsome Confederate general. The
research is substantial and the writing is clear. Bridges, who was a
professor at University of California-Riverside, recounts Hill's uncanny ability to get crosswise with nearly everyone
around him, especially Robert E. Lee. After playing an important role in the Army of Northern Virginia during the 1862 campaigns, the confident and assertive Hill managed to annoy his way out
of a job, leaving him with no command by 1864. I haven't read any of Bridges' other books, but it appears that he led an
interesting career. In addition to the D.H. Hill biography, he
wrote a survey of American mysticism and, at the age of 90, penned a novel
about Lincoln.
Excommunicated from the Union: How the Civil War Created a Separate Catholic America by William Kurtz (Fordham: 2015). This is a thoughtful analysis of Catholics and the Civil War. It highlights the tensions within the Catholic community regarding Union war aims and the fallout from such friction in the postwar years. Kurtz, the managing director of the Nau Center for Civil War History at UVA, has established himself as an expert on Catholicism and the war. His next book,
Soldiers of the Cross, the Authoritative Text: the Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War, will be published by Notre Dame Press later this year and is coedited by David Endres. Over the last several months, I've had the pleasure to meet with Will in Charlottesville and chat about his work and Civil War scholarship.
Virginia Railroads in the Civil War by Angus James Johnston (UNC Press: 1961). This older title examines the importance of the railroads to the campaigns and operations in Virginia. It has the feel of a strategic study and delves into how the Commonwealth's rail lines shaped nearly every military operation in the east. I've found it immensely useful in understanding the whys and hows of the Virginia campaigns. It serves as a good companion to similar titles such as Black's
The Railroads of the Confederacy, Turner's
Victory Rode the Rails, and Hess's recent
Civil War Logistics.
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight (Simon & Schuster: 2018). I'm a huge David Blight fan.
Race and Reunion is one of
my standard Civil War book recommendations. I enjoyed
this new Douglass biography, which has received many great reviews. Among many other things, I was impressed at how the study conveys the sheer volume of Douglass's life - so many speeches, so much travel, pages and pages of writing, and never-ending political and personal challenges.
Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War by Joanne Freeman (Farrar: 2018). Another popular new title, Freeman's study of violence in the antebellum Congress has received a lot of well-deserved praise. I was particularly struck at how the patterns of violence in Congress reflected overall sectional tensions leading up the war. I also enjoyed listening to the book in the author's voice.
Commander of All Lincoln's Armies: A Life of Henry W. Halleck by John F. Marszalek (Harvard: 2004). Halleck appears nearly everywhere in Civil War military studies. He was in charge of operations out west early in the war. In 1863, he
coordinated military matters from Washington as general-in-chief. When Grant took charge in 1864,
Halleck was demoted to chief of staff. Marszalek's biography is a detailed, lucid account of
Halleck's career. The study highlights Halleck's corrosive tendency toward indecision. Though an intelligent and well-read officer, businessman, and lawyer, he damaged the Union war effort time and time again by failing to provide clear,
unequivocal plans, directives, and guidance to his subordinates. The book also demonstrates that Halleck may have tended to adhere too slavishly to the maxims of military theorists of the time.
The Peninsula Campaign and the Campaign of Necessity: African Americans and the Fight for Freedom by Glenn Brasher (UNC: 2012). Brasher explores the role that slaves played in the
Peninsula Campaign of 1862. It details how self-emancipated slaves aided
the Union cause by providing military intelligence, laboring on Union
fortifications, and conducting other activities on the peninsula between
the York and James Rivers east of Richmond. Brasher discusses the
impact these contributions would have on Federal policy,
particularly Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. The
book stands out as an compelling fusion of military, political, and social
history.
The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War by Donald Stoker (Oxford: 2010). This is my go-to book for getting to the big picture.
It is worth reading and rereading. Along with
How the North Won by
Hattaway and Jones, Stoker's book does a great job of laying out the
forest often obscured by tactical minutiae. While
I may not agree with every conclusion, I've found Stoker's analysis indispensable in explaining how the
pieces of a complicated war fit together.
Lee's Maverick General: Daniel Harvey Hill by Hal Bridges (McGraw-Hill: 1961; Reprint, Nebraska: 1991). First published nearly 60 years ago, Bridges work remains the standard biography of
this intelligent, aggressive, and quarrelsome Confederate general. The
research is substantial and the writing is clear. Bridges, who was a
professor at University of California-Riverside, recounts Hill's uncanny ability to get crosswise with nearly everyone
around him, especially Robert E. Lee. After playing an important role in the Army of Northern Virginia during the 1862 campaigns, the confident and assertive Hill managed to annoy his way out
of a job, leaving him with no command by 1864. I haven't read any of Bridges' other books, but it appears that he led an
interesting career. In addition to the D.H. Hill biography, he
wrote a survey of American mysticism and, at the age of 90, penned a novel
about Lincoln. 
Excommunicated from the Union: How the Civil War Created a Separate Catholic America by William Kurtz (Fordham: 2015). This is a thoughtful analysis of Catholics and the Civil War. It highlights the tensions within the Catholic community regarding Union war aims and the fallout from such friction in the postwar years. Kurtz, the managing director of the Nau Center for Civil War History at UVA, has established himself as an expert on Catholicism and the war. His next book, Soldiers of the Cross, the Authoritative Text: the Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War, will be published by Notre Dame Press later this year and is coedited by David Endres. Over the last several months, I've had the pleasure to meet with Will in Charlottesville and chat about his work and Civil War scholarship.
Virginia Railroads in the Civil War by Angus James Johnston (UNC Press: 1961). This older title examines the importance of the railroads to the campaigns and operations in Virginia. It has the feel of a strategic study and delves into how the Commonwealth's rail lines shaped nearly every military operation in the east. I've found it immensely useful in understanding the whys and hows of the Virginia campaigns. It serves as a good companion to similar titles such as Black's The Railroads of the Confederacy, Turner's Victory Rode the Rails, and Hess's recent Civil War Logistics.
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight (Simon & Schuster: 2018). I'm a huge David Blight fan. Race and Reunion is one of
my standard Civil War book recommendations. I enjoyed
this new Douglass biography, which has received many great reviews. Among many other things, I was impressed at how the study conveys the sheer volume of Douglass's life - so many speeches, so much travel, pages and pages of writing, and never-ending political and personal challenges.
Commander of All Lincoln's Armies: A Life of Henry W. Halleck by John F. Marszalek (Harvard: 2004). Halleck appears nearly everywhere in Civil War military studies. He was in charge of operations out west early in the war. In 1863, he
coordinated military matters from Washington as general-in-chief. When Grant took charge in 1864,
Halleck was demoted to chief of staff. Marszalek's biography is a detailed, lucid account of
Halleck's career. The study highlights Halleck's corrosive tendency toward indecision. Though an intelligent and well-read officer, businessman, and lawyer, he damaged the Union war effort time and time again by failing to provide clear,
unequivocal plans, directives, and guidance to his subordinates. The book also demonstrates that Halleck may have tended to adhere too slavishly to the maxims of military theorists of the time. 
The Peninsula Campaign and the Campaign of Necessity: African Americans and the Fight for Freedom by Glenn Brasher (UNC: 2012). Brasher explores the role that slaves played in the
Peninsula Campaign of 1862. It details how self-emancipated slaves aided
the Union cause by providing military intelligence, laboring on Union
fortifications, and conducting other activities on the peninsula between
the York and James Rivers east of Richmond. Brasher discusses the
impact these contributions would have on Federal policy,
particularly Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. The
book stands out as an compelling fusion of military, political, and social
history.
The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War by Donald Stoker (Oxford: 2010). This is my go-to book for getting to the big picture.
It is worth reading and rereading. Along with How the North Won by
Hattaway and Jones, Stoker's book does a great job of laying out the
forest often obscured by tactical minutiae. While
I may not agree with every conclusion, I've found Stoker's analysis indispensable in explaining how the
pieces of a complicated war fit together.