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Rating: 
Summary: Off the Beaten path - Antietam National Battlefield
Review: If you are interested in the Maryland campaign of 1862, this is the book for you! It includes South Mountain, Crampton's Gap, Harpers Ferry and a good bit of detail on Shepherdstown. Unlike the Gettysburg guide this book outlines the campaign on an "operational" as well as "tactical" level. Both of which are easy to understand and follow along if you desire to use this book as a battlefield guide. The driving directions along with detailed maps, historical photos, and reports taken from the Official Records make this book a complete tour and reference package! If you require an outstanding volume of work detailing nearly every aspect of the campaign, then look no further. I highly recommend this book as "must read" for anyone interested in Marse Robert's Maryland Campaign of 1862. It will also make an excellent reference tool for anyone who cannot make it to the battlefield. It brings the fields of battle to you!
Rating:
Summary: Off the Beaten path - Antietam National Battlefield
Review: If you are interested in the Maryland campaign of 1862, this is the book for you! It includes South Mountain, Crampton's Gap, Harpers Ferry and a good bit of detail on Shepherdstown. Unlike the Gettysburg guide this book outlines the campaign on an "operational" as well as "tactical" level. Both of which are easy to understand and follow along if you desire to use this book as a battlefield guide. The driving directions along with detailed maps, historical photos, and reports taken from the Official Records make this book a complete tour and reference package! If you require an outstanding volume of work detailing nearly every aspect of the campaign, then look no further. I highly recommend this book as "must read" for anyone interested in Marse Robert's Maryland Campaign of 1862. It will also make an excellent reference tool for anyone who cannot make it to the battlefield. It brings the fields of battle to you!
Rating: 
Summary: Luvas' book on Antietam Battlefield
Review: Luvas' book provided an excellent itinerary for those who would visit the Antietam battlefield. However, it fails to help the reader understand the context of the given part of the battle to the whole. After positioning you at strategic points he simply reprints copies of the official reports from officers involved in the components of the battle. Since many officers' reports were comprehensive reports of the entire battle, and Luvas takes only a small section of the report for a given area of the battlefield, even the reports lose the perspective of context. Another thing missing is a comprehensive map of the battlefield with his selected stops, again helping show the context of a given part of the battle with the whole.
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Summary: ACW Battlefield Tour Bibles
Review: These series of books are the best available resource for conducting ACW battlefield tours - assuming that your purpose in touring battlefields is to study and understand the applicable tactics, strategy and terrain and to develop an appreciation for the objectives and efforts of the participants. If you go to ACW battlefields to gawk and gossip as an everyday tourist then you do not need to study these guides. If you have an active interest in ACW history, military history in general or fascinating chapters in human history, then these guides are remarkable values, "Best Buys". Thorough but not intimidating, insightful and objective, with no deficiencies noted.
Rating:
Summary: ACW Battlefield Tour Bibles
Review: These series of books from the U. S. Army War College are the best available resource for conducting ACW battlefield tours - assuming that your purpose in touring battlefields is to study and understand the applicable tactics, strategy and terrain and to develop an appreciation for the objectives and efforts of the participants. If you go to ACW battlefields to gawk and gossip as an everyday tourist then an investment in these guides is unnecessary. If you have an active interest in ACW history, military history in general or fascinating chapters in human history, then these guides are remarkable values, "Best Buys". Helpful maps illustrate troop engagements and key terrain features, excerpts from the Official Records provide first person commentary from the participants at each "Stop" on your tour and concise analysis is provided to tie the story together. Thorough but not intimidating, insightful and objective, with no deficiencies noted. This particular guide is especially insightful in that the tour includes the Battle of South Mountain preceding Antietam and includes "Stops" in backwoods areas of western Maryland and West Virginia which are otherwise unrecognized as significant to the Battle of Antietam. A great way to tour a beautiful area of our country and understand in detail a significant chapter in our history.
Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding guide
Review: This book was an outstanding guide for touring the area around Harpers Ferry and Sharpsburg. Using the timetable guide as well as the driving directions I was able to poke around some of the real back roads of West Virginia and Maryland. It is very much a worth while guide for touring a fascinationg and horrific section of our country
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