The Oxford Atlas of the Civil War

User Review: - Useful resource
As other reviewers have noted, there are some annoying errors in the text. However, it provides an accessible introduction to Civil War battles and maneuvers, and--as such--has some value. That said, the maps and text do not always elucidate matters so well.

For instance, the battle of Logan's Crossroads (or Mill Springs). This was nasty early battle, in which Confederate generalship was inept and Union General George Thomas began to separate himself from Union mediocrities among general officers. The map on page 98 details the larger theater, but is not illuminating, given the lack of text. The map of the battle of Logan's Crossroads itself is useful, because the text accompanying it provides enough detail to make sense of things.

On occasion, some errors creep in. The discussion of Chancellorsville speaks of Howard's 6th Corps being outflanked and "rolled up." It was, of course, the 11th Corps that was so roughly handled, with Sedgwick's 6th Corps still at Fredericksburg.

At the same time, the volume does provide context. The first section focuses on "The Coming of War," and provides intelligible background, from issues of slavery to economics to demographics. All these trends began to create tensions between north and south. Graphics helpfully portray some of these sectional differences. On pages 56-57, we see how manufacturing differed dramatically by region (in terms of number of employees in manufacturing concerns) over decades.

Each section thereafter looks at a particular year during the conflict, exploring the combat, the campaigning, the state of each government and its people, economic productivity, and so on.

The volume concludes with the aftereffects of war, including presidential elections, Reconstruction, and so on.

The book is pretty well written. Steven Woodworth is a well known and reputable Civil War historian. Kenneth Winkle, the co-author, is also a well known historian. The format is such that only a handful of pages are devoted to a particular campaign or battle, and that means that detailed treatments of major engagements does not occur. Still, as a wide-ranging, graphically rich publication, this has a useful place in the library for those who want to get a broad introduction to the Civil War.

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User Review: - Disappointing
At first I was impressed by the maps and graphics in this book. As I began to study the battles I am particularly interested in I was suprised to find several gross errors. For example,the section on General Steele's Camden Expedition, has the map showing Thayer's Frontier Division meeting up with Steele at Elkin's Ferry via Murfreesboro, AR. The Map did not get even close to the correct route. Thayer came down via Hot Springs and Rockport and then followed Steele's army south until he caught up with Steele near Elkins Ferry. But I am amazed that the the map shows the Battle of Poison Springs on April 18, 1864 at Princeton which is 30+ miles northeast of Camden. Poison Springs is about 10+ miles West of Camden. I have to wonder who the heck researched this information and how could they be so far off????!!! It brings the creditability of this book into serious question!!!

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User Review: - Digging in Depth
This book is super in so many ways - but the best is its use of
maps and other statistical displays of wealth, development, strengths and capabilities. Had this information been available to Jeff Davis and Bobby Lee - both may have deferred the southern break-away.

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User Review: - A slipshod production
Yes, this book contains the good things mentioned in the editorial and other reviews: broader coverage than just the campaigns, excellent introductions by James MacPherson, and many maps. However, in just a few hours perusing the book, I have found a multitude of errors and anomalies which suggest to me a lack of care in putting the book together, something I would not expect from a book bearing the Oxford imprint. Some of these are:

--on p94 the battle of Antietam is said to have occurred in 1863. Sure, misprints happens, but shouldn't one of this import be caught?

--similarly, the first sentence on p182 refers to July 1, in a context that appears to indicate that this date refers to the upcoming action, which happens to be the second day of Gettysburg, July 2!

--on p206, the article correctly speaks of an action between the ships Alabama and Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France, whereas the accompanying map shows Atlanta and Kearsarge at that location.

--In a worse example of map error, the overview map of the Vicksburg campaign on p165 shows the Yazoo and the Big Black as essentially the same river: rather than separately flowing into the Mississippi north of Vicksburg, the Yazoo is shown joining up with the Big Black and flowing with it into the Mississippi well south of Vicksburg.

--near the bottom of p302, in an example of poor editing, the phrase "sometimes wading for hours at a time" occurs redundently in two close together sentences.

--in a worse example of poor editing, Grant's actions at the end of 1862 (1st Vicksburg) are placed out of chronological order prior to his actions at the beginning of 1862 (Fort Donelson and Shiloh), so that the 1862 campaign in the west is hard to follow.

--near the bottom of p286, the text refers (in words) to "eighteen thousand percent" Confederate inflation, whereas the figure shown at the bottom of p202 says "1800 percent". I certainly hope that the writers of this book don't think these two numbers are the same.

--in what may just be a Britishism, the glossary states that soldiers found it difficult "bighting" into hardtack.

Some of these errors I noticed by merely glancing at a page; others I discovered with a closer reading. However, given that I have at most perused a few dozen pages of the book, this seems to me to be an inordinate mumber of errors, indicative of sloppy editing and perhaps a rush job to meet a deadline. You may not mind these errors, but I do, and I give you fair warning.

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User Review: - A fine work!
This is a very good Civil War reference Book for those wishing an acquaintenance with the broad scope of the war. James McPherson's deft style and teaching skills prepares the reader for a wonderful educational experience.

And that's what The Atlas of the Civil War is: a wonderful educational experience packaged in a large 12 x 15 inch binding. It is an educational work designed for easy reading and comprehension that can be enjoyed by the casual reader.Laying the groundwork for the coming of the war, the Atlas compartmentalizes, in two page segments , the reasons for the war going back to territorial expansion and up through the Compromise of 1850 and the spread of slavery.

Its focus on the war compartmentalizes the major campaigns as well, some occupying more than the aforementioned two pages. Various facets of the opposing forces such as organization and recruiting are examined as well and the book is generously illustrated with maps, sketches and wartime photographs.

The Atlas of the Civil War is an excellent book for one wishing an overall familiarity with the war.