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336CIVIL WAR HISTORY Alan C. Aimone's chapter on genealogical sources advises readers where to start their inquiries; Judith Lee Hallock warns of the distortions and biases characteristic of primary documents; Michael L. Renshawe notes that published papers are selective and not meant to be read from start to finish. Chapters on the war's causes, Lincoln, and Union civilian leaders stand on their own as well-written and insightful historiographical essays. Authors do not merely highlight gaps in the literature, but many are openly critical oftrends and weaknesses they perceive in the scholarship. Eric H. Walther dismisses the popular notion that race and slavery had nothing to do with Southern secession and war; Alan C. Guelzo chides historians for undervaluing the importance of political ideology and regional identity to Northerners; Mark E. Neely, Jr., predicts (and seems to applaud) the end of interest in Lincoln's private life and a return to studies of his public career and policy making; Mark Grimsley criticizes authors of campaign and battle narratives for their narrow focus and self-promotional tendency to "bring their pet battle to life" (282); Michael B. Chesson angrily blasts academicians for their neglect of prison studies , especially Northern prisons, by arguing that 'The scant attention paid to this subject in the past eighty years is an indictment ofthe historical profession, particularly those who profess to care about this greatest conflict" (475). Chesson wonders if we are not entering a new era in Civil War history dominated by nonacademics, a development that he, a professor himself, appears to welcome. Richard M. Zuczek makes a fascinating and convincing case for more analysis of military occupation in the Reconstruction South. Several authors point to the lack of attention given to naval history and the western theater; some acknowledge the continuing need for more examination of blacks' and women's wartime experiences. The large number of contributors and topics in a reference work such as The America Civil War has some disadvantages. Although readers will no doubt welcome the book's ambitious goals, variety, and breadth, there is occasional repetition and unevenness from chapter to chapter. A few writers are less thorough and up-to-date than others. But overall, this collection is thought provoking and immensely valuable to a wide range of readers. In the book's foreword, James M. McPherson concludes that The American Civil War is "the most important volume for anyone in the Civil War to own and consult." In many ways he is right. Lesley J. Gordon Murray State University Seasons of War: The Ordeal ofa Confederate Community, 1861-1865. By Daniel E. Sutherland. (New York: The Free Press, 1995. Pp. xi, 488. $30.00.) This award-winning account ofCulpeper County, Virginia, conveys a sensethat everyone who was anyone during the Civil War, with the possible exception of BOOK REVIEWS337 Abraham Lincoln, spent some time within that community's borders. Still, while Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, George G. Meade, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, George Armstrong Custer, Clara Barton, Walt Whitman, and many others all stayed in Culpeper for some time, Daniel E. Sutherland's primary focus is not so much on those prominent wartime visitors but on those people who called Culpeper their home before the conflict began. According to Sutherland, if we are looking for a "perch on which to sit and watch the action unfold," then "Culpeper is a good place to do that without losing any of the drama or humor of the war" (vi). For nearly three and a half years Culpeper represented "the eye of the storm in Virginia" (365). This community, whose eastern and southern borders are formed by the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers, provides a "seasons" of war "vantage point": the "Spring" (1861), when "the Confederacy was born and southern hopes were buoyant"; the "Summer" (1862), when the new nation "reached its full strength and maturity"; the "Autumn" (1863), when major defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg "muted Confederate enthusiasm"; and the "Winter" (1864-65), "which saw the death of the Confederacy" (vi-vii). While the book does a superb job demonstrating how this community reflects the changes experienced by the Confederacy, its greatest strength is in...

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