Book Review The Illustrated Gettysburg Reader
Gragg, Rod. The Illustrated Gettysburg Reader: An Eyewitness History of the Civil Wars Greatest Battle . Regnery Publishing, Washington, D.C. 2013. Index, notes, bibliography, maps, b/w photos.485 pages, 441 pages of text, ISBN 9781621570431, $29.95. Yes, it is the 150th anniversary year of the Battle of Gettysburg and the publishers are putting forth their best efforts to supply the interest of those wanting to read about the Civil War and this battle in particular. Gragg, who has written previously on the 26th North Carolina Infantry at Gettysburg, covers the Battle of Gettysburg chronologically starting with the Confederate advance into Maryland and later Pennsylvania. We learn the reason Robert E. Lee wanted to go north and we follow both Confederate and Union armies out of Confederate territory as Lee attempts to shift the battle and the opinion of the northern public. Once the opposing troops come to blows Gragg outlines the battle through thre...