About this item

Pitched as a history and as a guidebook, this thoughtfully put together tour through American war sites takes readers to territories that will be unfamiliar to many. Over five broad chapters, veteran military historian Sauers (Advance the Colors) begins with the American Revolution, hitting sites like the Fort Stanwix National Monument in Rome, N.Y., and Cowpens National Battlefield in Chesness, S.C., with copious color maps, period ephemera and illustrations included along the way. Chapters on the War of 1812, "The Expansion" (i.e., multiple wars with Native Americans) and the Civil War follow suit, with a chapter on "Memorials to Courage" covering foreign wars. The illustrations are a mix of overfamiliar and refreshingly arcane. The terrific sidebars offer a wealth of information on everything from bloody angle's oak tree at Spotsylvania to the life of Sitting Bull.