Book Review: Upon the Fields of Battle: Essays on the Military History of America's Civil War

Archives

by Andres S. Bledsoe & Andrew F. Lang, editors

Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2018. Pp. xiv, 304. Notes, index. $48.00. ISBN: 0807169773

New Perspectives on the Civil War

Professors Bledsoe (Lee University) and Land (Mississippi State) have collected nearly a dozen essays on various aspects of the history of the Civil War that merge traditional combat-focused military history with the so-called “new” military history, which looks at warfare within the framework of the social, political, and cultural trends of the times.

So, for example, several papers examine decision making at critical moments by Meade, McClellan, and Bragg, which throw fresh light on their actions, and are likely to please neither the fanboys or the foes of any of them. Other papers examine the Union looting of Fredericksburg, military executions in the Confederate Army, and even how Albert Sidney Johnston became a “great general”, looking at the revolution of his reputation from the ante bellum period through the era of the “Lost Cause”, and on to the present.

Upon the Fields of Battle, a volume in the LSU series “Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War”, is a valuable read for serious students of the war, and perhaps for anyone interested in scholarly trends in interpreting events.

 

---///---

 

Note: Upon the Fields of Battle is also available in several e-editions.

 

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium (www.nymas.org)

Reviewer: A.A. Nofi, Review Editor   


Buy it at Amazon.com

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close