Great Maps of the Civil War
By William J. Miller / Thomas Nelson

When Union Gen. George McClellan marched toward the Confederate capital of Richmond in 1862, he encountered the Warwick River "where it wasn't supposed to be." McClellan was following a map created by an esteemed topographer, but the map was wrong.

This beautifully illustrated book provides that detail in respect of the weapons, uniforms and equipment of the war - from the infantryman's simple rifle-and-bayonet through a plethora of officers' swords and sabers and pistols and revolvers, to the mighty artillery pieces, as well as the shirts, the shoes, the frock coats and the headgear of the officers and enlisted men.

Along the way, it examines some remarkable "firsts" - such as the first military use of submarines, sea-mines, multi-barrel guns, repeating rifles and carbines - as well as how the weapons were procured (for instance, the South's dependence on imported weapons because of its manufacturing shortcomings, and the North's attempts to blockade the supplies), and how they were used in the hands of soldiers and sailors who varied from ill-prepared youths to experienced hunters.

The Civil War Chronicle
By Matthew J. Gallman / Random House, Inc

In this moving chronicle of what acclaimed historian Eric Foner calls (in his introduction) "the most decisive turning point in American history," we hear the real voices of the soldiers, nurses, farmers, laborers, slaves, and freed people who lived through America's most tragic conflict. The Civil War Chronicle is a much-needed collection of the letters, diaries, speeches, telegrams, newspaper accounts, and official battlefield reports penned by those people, both famous and anonymous, who felt compelled to record their experiences because they sensed that their lives were significant. Also included are hundreds of period images which, along with the carefully chosen yet highly eclectic accounts, help recapture the day-to-day texture of life during the Civil War at all levels of Union and Confederate soceity.

From the election of Abraham Lincoln and the firing on Fort Sumter to Rober E. Lee's surrender and the assasination of Lincoln barely a week later, The Civil War Chronicle presents an astonishing array of perspectives and conflicting accounts of this very personal war. Read, for example, Clara Baron's remembrance of her first trip to the front lines, or Ulysses S. Grant's description of early Civil War combat, or the letter written by an escaped slave in which he assures his still-enslaved family, "I will have you if it cost me my life." Even longtime students of the Civil War will find a rich bounty of details and anecdotes that have previously escaped them.

Civil War Battlefields and Landmarks: A Photographic Tour
By Carol Highsmith & Ted Landphair / Random House, Inc

Who can walk the Virginia woods and not imagine curling smoke and coarse encampment, or the crash of branches as Union cavalrymen reconnoiter up ahead? What visitor to the bluffs of Vicksburg could not picture the flash from Federal gunboats on the Mississippi River below? Who, standing on Gettysburg Cemetery Ridge, cannot but wonder what went through the minds and hearts of twelve thousand massed Rebels, advancing, advancing, advancing, into the teeth of Federal musket and artillery fire?

The decades keep slipping by since that terrible collision of men and munitions, ideals, and wills. But interest in U.S. Civil War only increases. This photographic study by photographer Carol M. Highsmith, with descriptions by writer Ted Landphair, relives the war as a curious traveler might, by visiting battlefields where the great armies clashed and stopping to reflect at memorials and other sites that forever remind the nation of the valor, sacrifice, and ironies of that bloody war.

Looking at the scene of gruesome conflict at Gettysburg or Shiloh, at grave markers at Stones River or tent sites at Andersonville Prison, the reader can almost feel the adrenaline rush and the fear, hear the cannon fire and whinnies and screams, see commanders silhouetted on hillsides and sweating soldiers in blue and gray locked in mortal embrace where tranquil breezes blow today. Come along, from the place where John Brown ignited regional passions to the room where the assassinated Abraham Lincoln died--and beyond--on this tour of the tragic American-versus-American war.

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War
By Edited by Ned Bradford / Random House, Inc

Here is the story of the Civil war in the words of the men and women who were involved in the conflict. From leaders such as Ulysees S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, and G.T. Beauregard, to men under their command such as surgeon John M. Browne, calvaryman John L. Collins, and Captain of volunteer corps Daniel Oakey, there are first person accounts from those who fought and died for the causes they believed in.

From the first meeting of the Union and the Confederacy at Fort Sumter to the final surrender at Appomattox and General Lee's moving farewell to his army, the vivd descriptions of the battles of Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam, Fredricksburg, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Atlanta make the clashes of the nearly 150 years ago as intense and wrenching as if they had just taken place. Also presented are eye witness accounts from some of the greatest naval battles the world has seen, including the fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac.

This exciting and accessible volume, first publised in the 1880s and called "the greatest repository of firsthand testimony by the actual contenders" by the Atlantic Monthly, is a must for anyone interested in the Civil War.

Epic Extras:

• All-new introduction by executive producer Ted Turner
• Feature-length commentary by writer/director Ronald F. Maxwell and 2 of the film's historical advisors, Col. Keith Gibson and James I. Robertson Jr.
• 3 insightful making-of documentaries
• 2 music videos
• Interactive menus
• Theatrical trailer
• Scene access
• Subtitles: English, Francais & Espa&#241ol