In 2000 ABC-CLIO published the five-volume Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History that was lauded by historian James McPherson as a comprehensive reference work covering “every conceivable subject and significant person connected with the causes, course, and consequences of the war . . . ” (xxv). Thirteen years later the publisher offers a new six-volume encyclopedia on the Civil War era prominently labeled as “definitive.” Editor and historian Spencer Tucker, who was associated with the earlier work as well as chief editor of the new one, believes this encyclopedia to be “the most comprehensive and accurate reference work on the Civil War available” (xlv). Whether this is the same as “definitive” is questionable. Historians continue to seek new perspectives and understandings of the people and events of the Civil War era and occasionally discover unexamined documents that may reveal something new. Even so, the new work surpasses the previous encyclopedia because of its more extensive breadth of essay topics and the bibliographic references to selected publications from the nineteenth century through the 2000s.

The new encyclopedia has 2,648 essays arranged alphabetically and accompanied by maps, photographs and illustrations, a detailed chronology, general bibliography, subject index, and a list of essays by categories, such as individuals, events, groups and organizations, places, ideas, and movements. The essays range from two paragraphs to several pages. Composed by a variety of academic and independent scholars, the entries are clear and informative and provide cross references to related topics. A large portion of the essays were written by editors Paul Pierpaoli, Jr. and Spencer Tucker. Each essay has references to selected publications for further reading. More than 30 percent of the entries focus on people, the largest single category. Coverage of people and topics is more extensive than in the earlier encyclopedia’s more than 1,600 essays. For example, topics that do not appear in the older work are the Union Army of Ohio, Confederate Department of Tennessee, Minnesota, Black Republicans, Black Codes, Carte de Visite (i.e. pocket sized photographs carried by soldiers), causes of the Civil War, Cavalry Tactics, Native Americans, US Medical Department, Reconstruction, Confederate officer John Herbert Kelley, and Union officer James Winning McMillan. Also, the new work has a lengthy entry on literature that focuses on the influence of literary works during prewar years until recent times. Writers and selected fiction, poetry, and memoirs are cited that reflect different perspectives and interpretations of the causes and experiences of the war.

This encyclopedia provides additional features, including lengthy sections explaining military ranks, honors, medals, and decorations bestowed on soldiers. Volume 6 is mainly devoted to 172 selected documents arranged chronologically with informative, introductory background information. Most are excerpts from letters, memoirs, books, legal case decisions, and military reports reflecting both Union and Confederate perspectives. The new collection offers fewer documents than the 250 that were printed in the previous work by removing, for example, every southern state ordinance of succession except for the one from South Carolina, the first state to secede. Also, the new encyclopedia does not have the extensive lists of Union and Confederate officers, government officials, congressmen, and Civil War battlefield sites that appear in the earlier work.

The new encyclopedia will be valuable to students, scholars, and the general public and is highly recommended.