"I am most favorably impressed by the Essential Histories series on the American Civil War. Written by four of the best historians of the military course of the war, these volumes provide a lucid and concise narrative of the campaigns in both the Eastern and Western theaters as well as penetrating analyses of strategies and leadership. Ideal for classroom use or fireside reading."
Michael Whitby is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Warwick. He is the author of The Emperor Maurice and his Historian, Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare (1988) and is co-editor of the forthcoming 'Cambridge History of Ancient Warfare' (2003/04). He is currently working on a study of Warfare and Society in the later Roman world.
Introduction and Chronology - Background to war - Warring sides - Outbreak - The Fighting - Portrait of a soldier - World around war - Portrait of a civilian - How the war ended - Conclusion and consequences