Civil War: America at War: A Visual History

By Jack Maddox

Follow the Civil War through the Union and Confederate experiences, with 345 photographs and two separate chronologies.

Civil War: America at War tells the story of the conflict twice. The first half follows the Union from the call for volunteers to victory and an unsettled peace. The second returns to secession and traces the Confederate experience through its early successes, mounting losses and final surrender.

Across 56 chapters, Jack Maddox combines clear accounts of the campaigns with a wide photographic record of the people who fought and lived through them. Compare the opposing decisions at Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Follow Grant toward Richmond, Sherman through Georgia and the armies into the closing months of 1865.

The photographs give the history a human scale. Soldiers pose in uniforms they have only recently received. Officers gather outside their tents. Gunboats, railway bridges, fortified positions and crowded camps show the work behind a campaign. Portraits of famous commanders sit alongside the faces of men whose names are less familiar.

Original maps and diagrams explain the movements and positions. Carefully arranged photographic pages give you space to study the subjects, while short narrative chapters keep the story moving. The account also follows emancipation, Black military service and the changes war brought to communities and households.

Inside you will find:

345 photographs across the book
28 Union chapters and 28 Confederate chapters
Campaign maps and explanatory diagrams
Military portraits, camp scenes, ships, railways and fortifications
A timeline, glossary and index for finding events and people

For a Civil War enthusiast, a reader discovering American history or someone who enjoys exploring old photographs, this is a book to read closely and return to.

The illustrated print editions make a thoughtful history gift for Dad, Grandad or an adult son, whether for a birthday, Christmas, Father's Day or retirement. They also sit alongside the other America at War volumes as a matching collection.

Part of the America at War series by Jack Maddox. Each volume can be read on its own.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HMR23484
• ISBN13: 9798161613429
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 134 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"