John L Ferguson

This book is a very good example of how not to put out a state historical society centennial commemorative volume on the War of the Rebellion. It begins well enough, with two good accounts of secession, and then proceeds to deploy the soporific accounts from the Official Records to narrate military action in the state. The book also includes two scholarly articles; one very good on the military government of the state, the other an abstruse account of the microtopic of industry in southwestern Arkansas during the period. The book ends with excrescences which could and should have been labelled as appendices on this-n-that-- a few were interesting enough to browse; most were not. The few maps included were illegible, and the light typeface throughout nearly so, though I confess to poor eyesight.… (more)