Book Reviews

Book Review From August 2015

Originally published August 2016 · p. 11

Shiloh: Conquer or Perish. By Timothy B. Smith. Illustrated, photos, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, 583 pp., 2014, Kansas, www.kansaspress.ku.edu, $34.95.

The lament of most Western Theater students is that there are not enough books published on the theater they deem the most important. There will likely be more books published on Gettysburg this year than there have been on Shiloh over the last 40 years. One thing Shiloh enthusiasts have going for them now though is that there is a new large history of the battle written by Timothy Smith. Excusing the 2007 printing of an older dissertation, this is the first Shiloh history since Larry Daniel’s in 1997. One thing that stands out right away in Smith’s book is that each day of the battle is examined in the same detail. Most books devote the lion’s share to the first day treating the second like an after-thought. Smith instead devotes nearly as many pages to the second day as he does to the first. Terrain played a big part in how the battle unfolded, and it was interesting to see Smith describe it as an hourglass. This hourglass of high ground would affect each day’s fighting. On day one it allowed the Union to withdraw into a secure compact position, while on the second day the Confederates had to defend a larger area as they retreated. I don’t believe I’d heard the terrain described this way, but it makes sense. Although there have not been many large battle histories published, Shiloh has been the subject of many smaller books and articles. Smith has been able to convert all of this scholarship into a refreshing new view of the battle. This is a great book that will become the “go-to” source for Shiloh. As a student of the battle, I hope we do not have to wait another 17 years for someone to further our insight into this complex struggle. This book deserves a place on the shelves of everyone interested in why and how the battle of Shiloh was fought. Nicholas Kurtz graduated from the University of Colorado-Denver in 2001 with a B.A. in history. He loves wandering battlefields and is an aspiring author. Although he finds all aspects of the war interesting his primary interest is the Western Theater.