I recently finished reading a wonderful essay collection, compiled and ed. by frequent History-Sites contributor Mark Christ. It is quite a noteworthy effort, and I thought I would repost part of the review here and link to the rest.

“The Earth Reeled and Trees Trembled”: Civil War Arkansas, 1863-1864, ed. Mark Christ [(Old State House Museum, 2007). Softcover, maps, photos, illustrations, notes. Page Total/Main Text=168/159 ISBN 978-0-9789148-0-6 $24.95 ]

"'The Earth Reeled and Trees Trembled'" is a fascinating collection of essays based on Old State House Museum (Little Rock, AR) seminar topics originally presented in 2003 and 2004. Gathered together in a volume edited by Mark Christ, Community Outreach Director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, these essays cover a broad range of subjects from politics and society to military campaigns. Readers will also find fascinating monographs on geography and medicine. Christ, the editor of several fine books to include "Rugged and Sublime" and "All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell" among others, is also a contributor of two articles.

I'll begin with a brief description of the book's overall presentation and then comment on each essay separately below. The collection is bound in a sturdy paperback that's also very attractive. Numerous maps, photographs, and illustrations enhance the text, which is arranged in double column format for easy reading. Each essay is also thoroughly annotated, some with quite extensive commentary. In terms of consistent quality and freshness of approach among the chapters, this is one of the best Civil War essay collections I have come across.**...

**=Please follow the URL below to read the rest, it's lengthy and has links and formatting that can't be reproduced here:

http://cwba.blogspot.com/2007/06/ed-christ-earth-reeled-and-trees.html