An Illustrated History of the Civil War: Images of an American Tragedy

As a rule, I'm not terribly fond of the "coffee table" history books produced by the editors of Time-Life Books. Usually, they opt for more glitz than substance and you end up with a pretty, but bland piece of history. However, this, I am very pleased to say, is a much better book than their usual effort. Although this is an illustrated history, the narrative that begins each chapter is very well written. The topics are interesting, especially the chapters on the abolitionists and the secessionists. They do an excellent job of setting the stage for the Civil War. I have but two complaints - one is serious and one is not. First, the unpleasentness. The text had at least one glaring factual error - they have the Battle of Gettysburg taking place in 1864 rather than 1863. Mistakes like this are easy to make (a stray finger on a keyboard...) but this is the most famous battle of the war! My second complaint is the sheer bulk of this tome - it weighs 5 pounds and is oversized. Yes, I weighed it. Its unwieldiness made it difficult for me to read in my "reading room" (if you get my meaning) due to the difficulty of balancing it on my knees. :)

I just bought this Civil War book several days ago, and I'm very glad I did buy it. While it doesn't seem to go into much detail about the battles, it still seems to tell the story of the Civil War well. I did notice that it mentioned Stonewall Jackson being wounded at Chancellorsville, and how he had an arm amputated. I don't think it mentioned the detail that he didn't actually die from that wound; he died from pneumonia. Still, the pictures are intriguing, to say the least. One of the other reviewers mentioned that. I would recommend buying this book.

I will make this short and sweet. I am a American Civil War student of many years. Within my library I have a nice collection of books on this subject. It seems that the common photographs are often repeated in the various books and seldom do I find an American Civil War photograph that I have not already seen. However, this book, "An Illustrated History of the Civil War", offers many photographs that this student had never seen. The book is well worth the price for the photographs alone, not to mention the text which was published in the highest quality. A good buy! One of my very favorite American Civil War books.

It is a good book to have in your personal library. The illustrations are compiled in good order. This book also is great for readers in 5th to 12th grade or anyone just starting their trip through the American Civil War.