The Civil War Era and Reconstruction: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History by Mary Ellen Snodgrass presents a unique point of view on the Civil War and Reconstruction. The difference between this piece of writing and others in the genre is that this encyclopedia is less focused on the military and war efforts and more focused on the social, political, cultural, and economic efforts during this era as the title suggests. Mary Ellen is the author of many books; this is her first work specifically about the Civil War era and Reconstruction.

While there are many books written about the Civil War and Reconstruction there are few encyclopedias that attempt to provide an overview of the era in the way that this encyclopedia does. Some address the era from a military stance including the Encyclopedia of American History (Volume 5: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856–1869) edited by Gary B. Nash (Facts on File, 2003); others from a racial/ethnic standpoint such as Richard Zuczek's Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era (2 volumes), a part of the Greenwood Milestones in African American History Series (Greenwood, 2006).

A Topic Finder section is included in the front with the topic headings such as “African Americans,” “Arts, Culture, Recreation,” “Cities, States, Regions, Features,” “Education,” “Family, Community, Society,” “Historical Events, Periods, Holidays,” “Native Americans,” “Organizations and Institutions (Non-Governmental),” “Religion and Religious Groups,” “Science, Technology, Medicine,” and “Women and Gender.”

Entries in this work consist of a wide gamut of topics, including “Buffalo Soldiers,” “Freedman's Bureau,” “Underground Railroad,” “Ku Klux Klan,” “ Art and Architecture,” “Cook's Tours,” “Horse Racing,” “Recreation and Amusements,” “Colleges and Universities,” “Cereals and Grains,” “Food and Food Preservation,” “Chicago Fire,” “Diseases and Epidemics,” and “Clothes and Fashion” among others. Black and white photographs, maps, paintings, and documents accompany several of the entries.

Biographical information is provided, as expected, on key figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant. Additional biographies include notable individuals such as P.T. Barnum, Alexander Graham Bell, Melvil Dewey, Emily Dickinson, Dorothea Dix, Cyrus W. Field, Geronimo, Eli Lilly, Levi Strauss, Mark Twain, and Victoria Woodhull among over a hundred others.

While the encyclopedia includes an “A–Z Contents” section with the correlating page numbers, I wish the “Topic Finder” section also included page numbers; although if you were to find an entry to look up in the topic finder, it wouldn't take too much effort to go to the contents since they are listed alphabetically. Colleges, universities, public libraries, and high school libraries could all benefit from this work. At $249 it is much more affordable than similar works that are listed upwards of over $800.