The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was the first officially sanctioned all-Black regiment in the U.S. Army.

Dan Albergotti’s Candy is a book steeped in sound and silence. Sound in the form of song, of chaotic cacophony, and of the drone (sometimes natural, someti...

arrowheads of swallows slicing a wind                 strong enough to set their wings on fire, but not the weather so much as the place itself,

arrowheads of swallows slicing a wind                 strong enough to set their wings on fire, but not the weather so much as the place itself,

  Lee’s Army During the Overland Campaign: A Numerical Study. By Alfred C. Young. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2013. Paperback, 428 pp. $39.95. Reviewed by Bert Dunkerly Although it has been out (in hardback) for thirteen years, this is a great reference book that I pull off the shelf from time to time […]

What happens when you ask contemporary poets to look into the cracked mirror of David Lynch’s work? Fix Your Hearts or Die! is an exuberant, eccentric coll...

Henry Eustace McCulloch: Texas Ranger, Legislator, Civil War General. By David Paul Smith. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2026. Hardcover, 312 pp. $49.95. Reviewed by Jonathan Steplyk Students of the Civil War may recognize Benjamin McCulloch, the famed Texas Ranger who, as a Confederate general, was killed at the battle of Pea Ridge. Less […]

Marielle Songy is a freelance journalist and writer. This interview is based on her new book, Coffee Culture New Orleans (LSU Press, 2026). JF: What led you to write Coffee Culture New Orleans? MS:…

Tip of the Tongue · Episode

“The Devil’s Own Purgatory” by Robert Gudmestad is the winner of the 2026 Emerging Civil War Book Award. ECW’s Chris Mackowski chats with Gudmestad about this groundbreaking new look at the Mississippi River Squadron during the Civil War. This episode of the Emerging Civil War Podcast is brought to you by Civil War Trails, the […]

Non-fiction Civil War book reviews, commentary, publishing news, author interviews, and profiles

A review of Chelsea Rathburn’s recent poetry collection, “Broken Houses.”

Frank W. Garmon Jr. is an Associate Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University. His first book, A Wonderful Career in Crime, offers a microhistory of a single Gilded Age conman to shine a light on how crime and corruption functioned in Gilded Age America. Please could you begin by telling us a bit

Emerging Civil War has selected Robert Gudmestad’s The Devil’s Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War as the recipient of its 2026 Book Award. The Devil’s Own Purgatory was published by Louisiana State University Press. The Emerging Civil War Book Award is presented to the best Civil War book published during […]

The Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award has selected six semifinalists in the competition that annually recognizes excellence in Thoroughbred sport literature. These titles, published in 2025, include three nonfiction historical studies from racing’s earliest years, a fictional pre-Civil War saga of racing and race in Mississippi, a deeply reported investigation of recent high-profile racing drug violations and the evolution of federal horse safety regulation, and a coffee table tome that profiles nearly 100 American racetracks, past and present.

New Orleans' favorite bars by one of its favorite chroniclers

Death or Victory: The Louisiana Native Guards and the Black Military’s Significance in the Civil War. By A.J. Cade. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2026. Hardcover, 396 pp. $49.95. Reviewed by Madison Smith The historiography of African American military service during the Civil War has long centered on regiments such as the 54th Massachusetts […]

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. Earlier this summer, our geriatric air conditioner stopped working, bringing an abrupt end to a few years of never-quite-c…

Check out new poetry books for the week of 8/4 from Mercer University Press, Black Square Editions, Seagull Books, LSU Press, Tia Chucha Press & Bull City Press.