Best of 2009

Once again, thanks to all of you for making Civil War Memory part of your daily Online travels.  There were plenty of good books published in the field of Civil War history in 2009 and 2010 looks to be just as good.  Listed below are a few of my favorite titles from the past year.  I hope all of you are enjoying the Holiday Season.

Best History Blog: American History Now This was the easiest pick of the year.  Those of you well versed in the historiography of Civil War memory studies may be familiar with Jim Cullen’s book, The Civil War in Popular Culture: A Reusable Past.  Somehow between his many publications and teaching, Jim has managed to maintain what is in my mind one of the best history/teaching blogs.  He blogs about all things American history and culture and his ongoing series about a fictional history teacher is a must read.  This is intelligent and creative blogging at its best.

Best Civil War Blog: Gettysburg Daily Can’t get to Gettysburg?  The next best thing is a regularly updated blog that is packed with beautiful photographs, panoramas, and tours with Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guides.  A great deal of work goes into each post, which leaves one wondering how they are able to maintain the site on a regular basis.  Well, however they do it, I just want to say that it is appreciated by this Civil War enthusiast.

Best History Book of 2009: Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1798-1815 (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Best Overall Civil War History: Marc Egnal, Clash of Extremes: The Economic Origins of the Civil War (Hill and Wang, 2009).

Best Campaign Study: William Shea, Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign (University of North Carolina Press, 2009).

Best Biography: Joan Waugh, U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth (University of North Carolina Press, 2009).

Best Confederate Study: Barton Myers, Executing Daniel Bright: Race, Loyalty, and Guerrilla Violence in a Coastal Community, 1861-1865 (Louisiana State University Press, 2009).

Best Union Study: Stephen Ramold, Baring the Iron Hand: Discipline in the Union Army (Northern Illinois University Press, 2009).

Best Slavery Study: Lacy Ford, Deliver Us From Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Best Memory Study: Kirk Savage, Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape (University of California Press, 2009).

Best Edited Collection: Lee Ann Whites and Alicia P. Long, Occupied Women: Gender, Military Occupation and the American Civil War (Louisiana State University Press, 2009).

Best Social History: Jeffrey McClurken, Take Care of the Living: Reconstructing Confederate Veteran Families in Virginia (University of Virginia Press, 2009).

Some good things to look forward to in 2010: Shearer Davis Bowman, At the Precipice: Americans North and South During the Secession Crisis (UNC Press and the Littlefield Series, June 2010); William W. Freehling, Showdown in Virginia: The 1861 Convention and the Fate of the Union (University of Virginia Press, April 2010); Kenneth W. Noe, Reluctant Rebels: Confederates Who Joined the Army After 1861 (University of North Carolina Press, April 2010); Stephanie McCurry, Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South (Harvard University Press, April 2010); C.S. Manegold, Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North (Princeton University Press, January 2010); Larry Logue and Peter Blanck eds., Race, Ethnicity, and the Treatment of Disability in Post-Civil War America (Cambridge University Press, June 2010).

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5 comments… add one
  • Sherree Jan 2, 2010 @ 16:09

    Happy New Year, Kevin!

    Thanks for the reading list. The best to you throughout 2010. Sherree

  • Kevin Levin Jan 1, 2010 @ 12:44

    You are very welcome.

  • toby Jan 1, 2010 @ 12:01

    Happy New Year, Kevin, and thanks for the list.

  • margaretdblough Dec 31, 2009 @ 23:35

    Kevin-

    Thanks for the best of list. It made it very easy to immediately use up the two Barnes & Noble gift certificates I received from my sisters for Christmas. I was fortunate enough to tour Prairie Grove and Pea Ridge with Bill Shea and Wilson's Creek with Bill Piston on one of the CompuServe CW Forum's annual gettogethers.

    Regards,

    Margaret

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