Ruby Sisson Library

The complete text of the bestselling narrative history of the Civil War--based on the celebrated PBS television series. This non-illustrated edition interweaves the author's narrative with the voices of the men and women who lived through that cataclysmic trail of our nationhood, from Abraham Lincoln to ordinary foot soldiers. Includes essays by distinguished historians of the era.

Covers the Civil War chronologically and gives biographical sketches of key persons, with an accompanying map supplement.

"If you want to know what it was like to be caught up in a confused Civil War battle complete with a 100,000-man cast, inept generals, missed opportunities, and grim humor amid suffering and death, here is your chance. McDonough has done a fine job of research which, for all that, recaptures the agony of Shiloh ("A place of peace") in twelve highly readable chapters...The author's special skill, however, is his use of revealing, perceptive quotes...

Gift donated by George "Peter" Warrick.

Lee the Soldier is a unique one-volume source of writing by and about Lee in which readers can explore all facets of the general's military leadership. Combining unpublished manuscript testimony from Lee about his campaigns, six new essays by leading historians in the field, more than a dozen important essays published previously, and an annotated bibliography of two hundred key titles, this book lays out the major debates and enables readers to explore...

Five major historians return to the battlefield to explain the South's defeat. Provocatively argued and engagingly written, this work rejects the notion that the Union victory was inevitable and shows the importance of the commanders, strategies, and victories at key moments.

"All for the Regiment traces how the amateur soldiers who formed the Army of the Ohio bridged widely varying backgrounds to organize themselves into individual regiments of remarkable strength and cohesion. Successive commanders Robert Anderson, William T. Sherman, and Don Carlos Buell all failed to integrate those regiments into an effective organization, however. The result was a decentralized and elastic army that was easily disrupted and difficult...