Let's Kick off March Madness - SB Style! | |
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It's that time of the year when we redirect the NCAA March Madness hype into . . .
The Savas Beatie Sweet Sixteen Tournament of Books!
Stay tuned for the following important dates:
Selection Sunday: March 13, 2022
(Competing books will be announced on Savas Beatie's FB page!)
The Sweet 16 Round: March 24, 2022
The Championship Round: April 4, 2022
THE TIP-OFF CONTEST!
GET $10 for guessing right, and $5.00 just for playing!
QUESTION:
Which Savas Beatie author won the 1st and 2nd
March Madness Tournament of Books? (Hint: He's a licensed Battlefield Guide.)
The first 10 people to submit correct answers get $10.00 each into their online accounts at the end of the competition! Everyone else up to 50 participants still gets $5.00 added to their online account!
Email your answer to: books@savasbeatie.com
*** Maximum of 50 (fifty) entrants. One entry per person. All funds are added to your online SB account only. No other cash value. You must already have, or you must open, a free account on our website before March 15, 2022, to collect your online spending cash! * * *
Use the web "cash" on any book in stock that you can purchase directly through the website! It never expires! Hurry! (Winning accounts will be credited by March 15, 2022.)
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Three New Releases in Paperback this Month! | |
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Check out these new paperback titles currently in stock.
Call the office at 916-941-6896, visit our website, or email us to order your copies.
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5 "Things" with Author Chris Bryan | |
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This month, our Five Things column features Chris Bryan, whose Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July – September 1862, was released February 2022. Here, Chris tells of five facts he discovered while researching and writing this book.
Take it away Chris. . .
1. The originally intended scope of this project (long before I contacted Savas Beatie) was the activities of Greene’s brigades between the East and West Woods at Antietam. The scope of the project swiftly grew to cover the whole corps over two campaigns with near equal treatment of their opponents!
2. Those familiar with Antietam are likely aware that Ezra Carman wrote the gold standard history of the campaign. Mostly, Carman’s manuscript is above reproach, but on my corner of the battlefield, I discovered two places to question Carman: 1) which Georgians fought in the East Woods against the 10th Maine and 2) where the 2nd South Carolina’s second assault against the Dunker Church Plateau occurred. For the latter, there is actually a gap in Carman’s manuscript from the end of the 2nd’s first assault until after subsequent assaults by 2nd South Carolina (joined by the rest of Kershaw’s brigade) and then by the brigade led by Col. Van Manning. Researching letters from the Carman and Gould papers revealed interpretive updates.
3. I enjoyed figuring out the rough boundaries of the Wheatfield at Cedar Mountain, especially its northern border with the Scrub (or Brushy) Field. Related to this, I found Thomas Ruger’s original OR report in the National Archives, which contains a previously-unpublished map of an encounter between the part of the 3rd Wisconsin and the Stonewall Brigade. Prior interpretations put this fight in the Wheatfield, but the relative positions of the units and the ridge that separates the fields strongly suggest that this fight was inside the Scrub Field.
4. I discovered that the six days that Pope’s and Lee’s armies spent on the Rappahannock (August 20-25) were really quite interesting and often overlooked. The book spends some quality time detailing that period.
5. Most folks interested in this book know that the XII Corps fought very well at Cedar Mountain (not yet XII Corps), Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg before moving west. But, as with most things, the corps was a mixed bag. There were dark horse commanders that turned out to be great and latter-day famous commanders who were, kindly, not so good. There were good and mediocre units as well.
Click here and buy your copy!
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A Peek into an Author's Library | |
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One of our more popular features, Look Inside a Library continues with SB author Jeff Hunt sharing his library photos and answering the following questions.
1.) How old were you when you got the Civil War "bug" and when did you begin collecting Civil War books? I discovered the Civil War in 4th Grade. Our family lived outside Indianapolis at the time, and we were studying the war as part of Indiana History.
|  | 2.) How many books do you have and how do you organize your library? 2,801 spread across two main libraries at home, additional bookshelves in each spare bedroom, and several bookshelves in my office at the Texas Military Forces Museum. One of the two main libraries contains all the 18th and 19th Century topics, while the other holds all the 20th and 21st Century subjects. Except for a dozen or so volumes, it's all non-fiction and almost entirely military history (with a little presidential biography and political history tossed in). The books are arranged by conflict and sub-divided chronologically by theater, with sections for a biography, regimental/unit histories (sub-divided by nationality), biography (similarily sub-divided), special topics (medical, logistics, tactics, strategy, naval, photography, etc), official records and so forth. |  | |
3.) I have the most books on The Civil War, and the count is up to 1,167. (World War II comes in second with 661 volumes).
4.) If you had to pick a special favorite collectible/rare/special book in your collection, what is it and how did you come to acquire it? I have a few first edition regimental histories that I'm proud of, all bought online as part of research for my Meade and Lee series. But if I brag about any particular volume it's a 1980's era reprint of Volume 1 in Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. I love Foote's writing style and cut my teeth on his volumes and those penned by Bruce Catton. But the reason this book is special to me is that it is sort of signed by Foote. To the surprise of many, he made it a rule not to sign books. When I was a graduate teaching assistant in a class on the Civil War at the University of Texas in Austin, my mentor, Dr. George Forgie, was on a panel of speakers that included Foote. When he offered to pay me for teaching class while he was gone, I gave him Volume 1 of Foote's narrative and asked him to get it signed. To the dismay of Dr. Forgie and the seminar's audience, the host announced that Foote did not sign books. Thinking he might get dispensation for a fellow speaker, Dr. Forgie explained why he was asking Foote to autograph my book. Foote didn't relent, but he did write me a very nice note on a piece of paper, which Dr. Forgie brought back to me. It's still tucked inside that "sort of signed" volume!
|  | 5.) I collect Civil War books because...I never get tired of reading about the Civil War and my interests have ranged wider and wider on the topic over the years. It is just such a fascinating subject. The writing of so many great historians who have explored it makes the era a literary and historical treasure trove. The first person accounts, published diaries, and letters, as well as the regimental histories, are so intimate and detailed, that they transport you back in time. Reading those has really enhanced my reenacting career! And of course, doing research for writing my own books is a huge driver in collecting new and obscure volumes as part of the quest to learn as much as I can about my topics! | |
Now Available Digitally
March Battle Anniversary Tiles!
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What a great month for a few authors to share their book in front of Civil War audiences, and it's always great when an author finds boxes of books on his doorstep. | |
Did you know we have excerpts posted on our website? Here are a few, and from now on we will have a list right here for you to view. Happy previewing! | |
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"No One Wants to be the Last to Die": The Battles of Appomattox, April 8-9, 1865, by Chris Calkins with Robert M. Dunkerly
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The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Gettysburg Retreat through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, by Adolfo Ovies
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The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865: A Study in Command, by William Royston Geise, edited by Michael J. Forsyth
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The Civil Wars of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, 2 volumes, by Richard M. McMurry. Vol. 1: Virginia to Mississippi (Fall 2022); Vol. 2: Georgia to North Carolina (Spring 2023).
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