Book Notes

Book Notes Battle: The Nature and Consequences of Civil War Combat. Edited by Kent Gramm. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. xi, 147 pp. $32.50 ISBN 978-0-8173-1622-8. This collection of essays seeks to correct some of the romantic notions that have replaced the reality of combat in the Civil War. Six essays address the culture of war, Gettysburg, wounds and medical care, the consequences of combat, the myth of the Lost Cause, and how numbers have inured readers to the reality of war and yet can bring people to a better understanding of it. These essays, penned by a historians and professional writers, were first presented at the first Seminary Ridge Symposium. Historic Photos of Mobile. Text and captions by Carol Ellis and Scotty E. Kirkland. Nashville: Turner Publishing Company. x, 206 pp. $39.95. ISBN 978-1-59652-434-7. The pictures in this coffee-table book present a century’s worth of visual history of Alabama’s famous port city. Beginning with a view of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and ending with an air force plane destroyed by Hurricane Frederick in 1979, the book presents many aspects of the city’s life: industry, theater, education, religion, war, civil rights, disasters, government, and much more. Sook’s Cookbook: Memories and Traditional Receipts from the Deep South, Updated Edition. Marie Rudisill. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. xvi, 175 pp. $16.95. ISBN 978-0-8071-3379-8. This new edition of a famous southern cookbook reintroduces cooks to Marie Rudisill, aunt of Truman Capote. A new foreword to the book presents a sketch of Rudisill’s colorful life. Inside, recipes for dishes such as watermelon rind preserves, Enterprise peanut brittle, and fresh mint butter vie for attention with tales of small-town Alabama and the South. ...