Book Review: American Civil War: A State-by-State Encyclopedia

Abstract

Obviously there is no shortage of available resources on the American Civil War. Nor is there a shortage of encyclopedias covering this seminal event from numerous perspectives and vantage points. However, there are not many sources looking specifically at the war from a state-by-state viewpoint. Two separate books with the same title have covered this territory previously. The Civil War State by State by Paul Brewer (Thunder Bay 2004), and more recently, Chester G. Hearn’s unrelated work by the same name (BlueRedPress 2013) take the state approach. However, neither work is nearly as in-depth and detailed as this new release edited by the senior fellow in military history at ABC-CLIO, who has authored or edited a long list of military history books and encyclopedias. Also, the previous editions mentioned have a great emphasis on color graphics and appealing layout, and are not intended as a starting point for scholarly research. This latest release, however, is clearly focused on providing historical background information while also pointing the user to further research and analysis by way of Further Reading lists and a “Select Bibliography.”