The Invasion of Canada - 1812-1813 by Pierre Berton

$15.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

To America's leaders in 1812, an invasion of Canada seemed to be "a mere matter of marching," as Thomas Jefferson confidently predicted. How could a nation of 8 million fail to subdue a struggling colony of 300,000? Yet, when the campaign of 1812 ended, the only Americans left on Canadian soil were pris oners of war. Three American armies had been forced to surrender, and the British were in control of all of Michigan Territory and much of Indiana and Ohio. In this remarkable account of the war's first year and the events that led up to it, Pierre Berton transforms history into an engrossing narrative that reads like a fast-paced novel. Drawing on personal memoirs and diaries as well as official dispatches, the author has been able to get inside the characters of the men who fought the war -- the common soldiers as well as the generals, the bureaucrats and the profiteers, the traitors and the loyalists. Berton believes that if there had been no war, most of Ontario would probably be American today; and if the war had been lost by the British, all of Canada would now be part of the United States. But the War of 1812, or more properly the myth of the war, served to give the new settlers a sense of community and set them on a different course from that of their neighbours. ...Show more

Matthew Brady's Illustrated History of the Civil War with 737 Brady Photographs by Benson John Lossing

$40.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

A fascinating history of the causes and conflicts of the Civil War, highlighted by documentary accounts, records and war maps compiled from the official records of the War Department.

American Civil War - Almanac by Kevin Hillstrom; Laurie Collier Hillstrom; Lawrence W. Baker

$15.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War | Series: American Civil War Reference Library

Covering the events and the people of the American Civil War period, this volume describes and interprets the era of the Civil War, its events, and topics with viewpoints, definitions, report topics, chronologies and statistics.

American Scoundrel - The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles by Thomas Keneally

$10.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

Hero, adulterer, bon vivant, murderer and rogue, Dan Sickles led the kind of existence that was indeed stranger than fiction. Throughout his life he exhibited the kind of exuberant charm and lack of scruple that wins friends, seduces women, and gets people killed. In American Scoundrel Thomas Keneally, the acclaimed author of Schindler's List, creates a biography that is as lively and engrossing as its subject. Dan Sickles was a member of Congress, led a controversial charge at Gettysburg, and had an affair with the deposed Queen of Spain--among many other women. But the most startling of his many exploits was his murder of Philip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key), the lover of his long-suffering and neglected wife, Teresa. The affair, the crime, and the trial contained all the ingredients of melodrama needed to ensure that it was the scandal of the age. At the trial's end, Sickles was acquitted and hardly chastened. His life, in which outrage and accomplishment had equal force, is a compelling American tale, told with the skill of a master narrative. ...Show more

Commanding Lincoln's Navy: Union Naval Leadership During the Civil War by Stephen R. Taaffe

$30.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

The Union Navy played a vital role in winning the Civil War by blockading Confederate ports, cooperating with the Union Army in amphibious assaults, and operating on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. To wage this multifaceted war, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles divided the Union Navy into six squadrons. The book examines who Welles assigned to squadron command and why he appointed these officers. Taaffe argues that President Abraham Lincoln gave Welles considerable latitude in picking squadron commanders. Lincoln not only trusted Welles s judgment, but he also understood that the Navy was not as important to the Union war effort militarily and politically as the Army, so there was less of a need for him to oversee closely its operations. Welles used this authority to make appointments to squadron command based on several criteria. Welles factored into his mental calculations seniority, availability, and political connections, but he was most interested in an officer s record, character, and abilities. Although some of Welles s earliest selections left something to be desired, his insight improved markedly as the war continued and he gained a greater understanding of the Navy and its officer corps. Indeed, by the end of the conflict, Welles had become quite ruthless in his search for effective squadron commanders capable of filling the Navy s increasingly difficult missions. In doing so, he contributed greatly to Union victory in the Civil War. The book covers some of the Civil War s most important campaigns and battles, such as the Union assaults on New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile Bay, and Fort Fisher, and the fighting on the Mississippi River." ...Show more

Confederate Troops of the American Civil War by Jonathan Sutherland

$20.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War | Series: Europa Militaria Special

A catastrophic and ruinous civil war raged across the fledgling United States between 1861 and 1865. The conflict pitted brother against brother, father against son and friend against friend. This book minutely examines the uniforms and equipment of the Confederacy, a patchwork of states, comprising o f the southern aristocracy, farm hands and state militiamen. Often hopelessly outnumbered, they held back the inevitable tide of blue of the Union for four years. This book not only examines the uniforms, but also the equipment, weapons, battle flags, tactics and organization of the Confederate armies. Indispensable for military historians, collectors, wargamers and re-enactors. ...Show more

Uniforms of the Civil War in Color by Philip J. Haythornthwaite

$5.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

CSS Alabama Vs. USS Kearsarge: Cherbourg 1864 by Mark Lardas

$20.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War | Series: Duel 40

The most successful commerce raider of the Civil War, the CSS Alabama almost single-handedly drove United States merchant shipping from the seas. Her illustrious career saw the capture of 60 merchant ships and two duels with ships of the US Navy. This book gives the complete story of the development of the Confederacy’s commerce raiding force and the ships the Union set against them. Compiled from numerous first-hand accounts as well as archeological evidence, it covers the three famous battles of the commerce raiders, CSS Florida vs. USS Wachusett, CSS Alabama vs. USS Hatteras, and CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge, analyzing the strengths and weakness of each of the combatants. While the American Civil War is usually considered a land war, there was plenty of blood in the water. ...Show more

Lincoln at Gettysburg - The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills

$15.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

In a masterly work, Garry Wills shows how Lincoln reached back to the Declaration of Independence to write the greatest speech in the nation's history. The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome b attle. Instead he gave the whole nation "a new birth of freedom" in the space of a mere 272 words. His entire life and previous training and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece. By examining both the address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame, Wills breathes new life into words we thought we knew, and reveals much about a president so mythologized but often misunderstood. Wills shows how Lincoln came to change the world and to effect an intellectual revolution, how his words had to and did complete the work of the guns, and how Lincoln wove a spell that has not yet been broken. ...Show more

History of the Confederates States Navy

$50.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

The General and the Journalists: Ulysses S. Grant, Horace Greeley and Charles Dana by Harry J. Maihafer

$15.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

The true story of how soldier/president Ulysses S. Grant's wartime successes and peacetime failures were directly influenced by Horace Greeley and Charles Dana, two of the greatest figures in American journalism. An original look at three of American history's most controversial and powerful figures. ...Show more

The Divided Union by Peter Batty

$20.00 NZD

Category: American Civil War

The Divided Union' is an account of five of the most dramatic and tragic years in the history of the US. The families and neighbours of a fledgling superpower were pitted against each other in a war concerned with the most fundamental of human motivations: freedom, identity, and nation. While great lead ers like Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S Grant found their moment, millions of ordinary Americans suffered terribly and more were killed than during the First and Second World Wars combined. The victory of the North determined the indivisibility of the Union and ensured its development as a nation, yet deep scars remained, and the ideals outlined by Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address failed to become a blueprint for the modern US. This is an accessible and compelling account both of the conflict itself and of its wider implications. ...Show more