Book Review: The Civil War Round Table Quiz Book

Archives

by Dave Smith

Washington: Potomac Books, 2013. Pp. xvi, 304 . Illus., biblio.. $24.95 paper. ISBN: 1612345808

A Great Book for Any Civil War Buff

Himself a Civil War buff, Smith has collected some 750 factoids on mid-nineteenth century America. These include items about society, culture, politics, slavery, and, of course, the war. They are posed in question and answer format and grouped into eight sections.

  • “An End to Compromise”
  • “At War with Ourselves”
  • “No Easy Path to Victory”
  • “Years of Hard War”
  • “War on the Home Front”
  • “The Leaders”
  • “Nearing the End”
  • “One Nation”

Each section is in turn divided into from four to twelve “Quizzes,” each of which consists of about ten or twelve questions, plus a section giving the answers. The questions are generally short and direct, but the answers often include more material than needed for a simple answer, and thus become a way to learn more about the war. For example,the answer to “What was considered the ideal age for a cavalry horse?” goes well beyond the simple “six years” to note official requirements on height, problems in training, and so forth, while “Who coined the term ‘Bleeding Kansas’?” not only identified Horace Greeley, but also includes some details about the role of his newspaper and others in informing the public about events. 

Naturally a work of this nature has some errors, but The Civil War Round Table Quiz Book has surprisingly few of these, and the book will amuse and inform both buffs and seasoned scholars of the Civil War, and might serve as an excellent introduction to the war for a young person.

---///---
Reviewer: A.A. Nofi, Review Editor   


Buy it at Amazon.com

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close