of the battle aren’t novel and his historical lens is narrowly focused, this is an accessible and enjoyable account. Illus. Agent: Emma Sweeney, Emma Sweeney Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

09/15/2016In this history of the 1862 confrontation of the ironclads USS Monitor and USS Merrimack, a pivotal naval battle of the Civil War, Snow (I Invented the Modern Age) attempts to present a synthesis without shorting details about the battle, ships, and crews. The result is a parallel examination of the two vessels, from their conception in the early 19th century to their demise after the fatal encounter. The author brings his paired narratives together in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads, VA. With sometimes florid and intricate narrative, Snow incorporates stories of heartbreak and humor, especially as the vessels arethe relieved, almost giddy North. A few notable naval battles changed the course of wars, even history, but the clash at Hampton Roads transformed the nature of warfare itself and offered a glimpse of the “grim modernity” Snow vividly captures.

Grinding, bloody, and ultimately decisive, the Petersburg Campaign was the Civil War's longest and among
its most complex. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee squared off for more than nine months in their struggle for Petersburg, the key to ...

On September 13, 1862, in a field near Frederick, Maryland, four Union soldiers hit the
jack-pot. There they found, wrapped carelessly around three cigars, a copy of General Robert E. Lee's most recent orders detailing Southern objectives and letting Union ...

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic