Gone with the Glory

Brian Steel Wills is director of the Center for the Study of the Civil War Era at Kennesaw State University. He is the author of The Confederacy's Greatest Cavalryman: Nathan Bedford Forrest, The War Hits Home: The Civil War in Southeastern Virginia, and No Ordinary College: A History of the University of Virginia at Wise.

Hollywood has had a long and complex relationship with the American Civil War. From The Birth of a Nation through Glory and Cold Mountain, scores of Civil War-related films have revealed at least as much about the eras in which they were made as about the events and characters they depicted. Brian Wills's excellent treatment, which captures the ebb and flow of cinematic themes and interpretations over the past 90 years, will prove invaluable in helping readers choose which films to watch.

• Introduction: Hollywood's Civil WarChapter 1: The Birth of Civil War CinemaChapter 2: Victory on the RailsChapter 3: The Romantic Era of Civil War CinemaChapter 4: The House DividedChapter 5: The Personal WarChapter 6: War without BoundariesChapter 7: The West's Civil WarChapter 8: Shiloh's Bloody HarvestChapter 9: Confederates Raid VermontChapter 10: The Music Teacher Raids MississippiChapter 11: A Stomach for WarChapter 12: Enough Glory for AllChapter 13: The Angels of GettysburgChapter 14: The Plight of the Prisoners of WarChapter 15: The War and the WavesConclusion: Screening the "Real War"Appendix A: FilmographyAppendix B: Actors Who Wore the BlueAppendix C: Actors Who Wore the GrayAppendix D: The Best and Worse of Civil War CinemaBibliography