Publication of Note | June 2026
G. David Schieffler and Matthew M. Smith, eds. “Hundreds of Little Wars: Community, Conflict, and the Real Civil War.” Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2025.
*Throughout 2026 the “Publication of Note” portion of the newsletter will feature some of the director’s favorite books published in 2025.
I have long been a strong proponent of the usefulness of community studies to gain a deeper understanding of the Civil War’s complexities. Community studies, as the great Civil War historian Daniel Sutherland noted more than three decades ago, present an opportunity to gain significantly deeper insight into “the diversity and reality of the war” in ways that broader studies do not.
The 12 essays in this volume offer important perspectives about how the conflict impacted communities such as Fauquier County, Virginia, and Kentucky’s Lower Green River Country. Additionally, this outstanding anthology demonstrates that community is not confined to a fixed spot on the landscape. For example, Lesley Gordon’s thoughtful contribution about how community was formed among the members of the 126th New York Infantry after the regiment’s capture at Harpers Ferry in 1862. Furthermore, essays such as Lorien Foote’s contribution reveal much about the roles that African Americans played in keeping their communities safe, even after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Anyone interested in understanding the power of community studies and how wartime communities were shaped by the conflict or were born out of the Civil War will find this exemplary study essential.
If you would like to learn more about this book, one of my favorites published in 2025, please visit https://lsupress.org/9780807182208/hundreds-of-little-wars/
