The Civil War Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT REFERENCE BOOK FOR BOTH NOVICE AND OLD PRO
Review: I found Boatners book (hardcover)at a garage sale about 10-12 years ago. I placed the book in storage and rediscovered it just before a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield. I highly recommend this book to the novice just getting started on the battlefields of the Civil War or the old pro who needs to refresh or jog their memory. Anyone that must have small details of any battlefield, troop placement and or commanders that lead them, locations of assults, you name it, this book is a must. Take it with you as you walk the lines of battle, its invaluable!

Rating:
Summary: Complete and compact; handy reference.
Review: Useful to the serious or casual student of the Civil War. Clarifies troop movements and provides backgrounds on key organizations and personnel involved with the war effort. I always keep it handy when reading anything to do with the War and it always helps me understand even the most confusing aspects of troop movements, weaponry, etc. A standard in the field.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of entries, not much information
Review: When compiling a work of this sort, the author must necessarily choose what balance between number of entires and substantiveness they want to have. The more entries there are, the less thorough each entry can be. This work seems to go too far in the number of entries it includes. It's useful if you need to know a sentence or two of information about an obscure boat or officer or something like that. However, such inclusiveness only leaves room for a few hundred words or less on major people and battles. Since the majority of people are more interested in the larger people and issues, this limits the usefulness of this work.