Historian-in-Residence Publishes New Book on Civil War Turning Points

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Posted on December 5, 2017
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Historian-in-Residence Publishes New Book on Civil War Turning Points

Maxwell James Mackowski holds a copy of the new book his dad just co-edited.

If people know anything at all about the Civil War battle of Gettysburg, they usually cite it as ā€œthe turning point of the war.ā€

But a new essay collection co-edited by our historian-in-residence, Chris Mackowski, suggests that maybe Gettysburg wasnā€™t ā€œtheā€ turning point at all. Instead, the book argues, what if the war was actually a series of major turning points, one leading to the next, in a continuum?

Turning Points of the American Civil War is the first volume in the new ā€œEngaging the Civil Warā€ book series published by Southern Illinois University Press in partnership with Emerging Civil War (ECW). Kristopher D. White, who co-founded ECW with Chris, serves as the bookā€™s co-editor.

Chris is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University. Read the university’s press release about Chris’s new book (which is out just in time for Christmas and makes a perfect gift for the Civil War buff on your list):Ā 
ā€œTurning Pointsā€ features essays from 10 historians that examine key moments of the Civil War and explain why they were significant game-changers.

ā€¢ ā€œConfidence Renewed: Surviving Bull Run and the Birth of the Army of the Potomacā€ by Robert Orrison
ā€¢ ā€œUnintended Consequences: Ballā€™s Bluff and the Rise of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the Warā€ by James Morgan III
ā€¢ ā€œDefeated Victory: Albert Sidney Johnstonā€™s Death at Shilohā€ by Gregory A. Mertz
ā€¢ ā€œā€˜The Heavyest Blow Yet Given the Confederacyā€™: The Emancipation Proclamation Changes the Civil Warā€ by Kevin Pawlak
ā€¢ ā€œThe Cresting Tide: Robert E. Lee and the Road to Chancellorsvilleā€ by Kristopher D. White
ā€¢ ā€œVicksburg: The Victory That Unleashed Ulysses S. Grantā€ by Daniel T. Davis
ā€¢ ā€œā€˜Oh, I Am Heartily Tired of Hearing about What Lee Is Going to Doā€™: Ulysses S. Grant in the Wildernessā€ by Ryan Longfellow
ā€¢ ā€œā€˜Far Better in the Present Emergencyā€™: John Bell Hood Replaces Joseph E. Johnstonā€ by Stephen Davis
ā€¢ ā€œThe Point of No Return: Turning Points within the 1864 Presidential Election and the Doom of the Confederacyā€ by Rea Andrew Redd

The bookā€™s conclusion, written by Mackowski, suggests Lincolnā€™s assassination might havebeen the warā€™s final turning point, dramatically affecting the peace and the manner in which postwar Reconstruction played out.

The foreword of the book was written by noted historian Thomas Desjardin, formerly of Gettysburg National Military Park and current commissioner of education for the state of Maine.Desjardin explains that Gettysburg has become known as ā€œtheā€ turning point of the war largely through the efforts of politically powerful men who had vested interests in defining the war that way. Their ceaseless public relations efforts after the war went a long way toward shaping public attitudes.

Turning PointsThe book is also innovative in the way it connects with Emerging Civil Warā€™s online presence. The bookā€™s readers can scan a QR code in each chapter that will take them to a page at Emerging Civil War devoted specifically to that chapter of the book. Those pages feature special commentary by ECWā€™s chief historian, Christopher Kolakowski, and the book seriesā€™ co-editor, Brian Matthew Jordan, along with related images, links to additional resources, and other pieces that are in conversation with the bookā€™s essays. More than a dozen other historians have contributed online pieces that supplement the book.

Coming in at 272 pages, with 31 illustrations ā€” including 10 original maps ā€” ā€œTurning Points of the American Civil Warā€ has a list price of $24.95 for paperback or ebook.

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