The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War

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The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War. By BRENT NOSWORTHY. New York: Carroll and Graf, 2003. xiv, 753 pp. $35.00.

THIS mighty new tome seeks to offer a comprehensive account of the fighting methods and combat experience of the American Civil War. In over 650 pages of text, it succeeds in providing a valuable survey of almost every weapon and tactic used in the war while remaining disconnected from almost all the recent work being done in the field. For a reader seeking explanations of the mechanics of weapons, the military science of the period, or broad generalizations about the experience of fighting, this book will serve as a …