Antietam National Battlefield - Books

No Certain Rest Jim Lehrer From the Publisher: "On a ridge overlooking Burnside Bridge - the focus of the Battle of Antietam - souvenir hunters find the unmarked grave of an unknown Union officer." "Don Spaniel, an archeologist in the National Park Service, is called in to examine the remains. He soon discovers that the officer was murdered and that his identification disk could not possibly belong to him, since its rightful owner is buried elsewhere. So who was this officer? Where did he come from? And why was he killed?" Spaniel’s obsessive investigation leads not only to his reliving the horrible carnage that occurred at Burnside Bridge over a century before, but to the true identity of the Union officer and the reason why another body resides in his grave in a small New England town. Synopsis: The topic of Jim Lehrer’s 13th novel is a crime scene investigation, but this is not your average CSI mystery. The victim wasn’t exactly murdered; he was executed; and he didn’t die recently; he succumbed over a century ago on a great American battlefield. In the hands of the PBS anchor, the case of the anomalous Antietam skeleton becomes an exploration into individual character and national identity. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyIn his 13th novel, PBS NewsHour anchor Lehrer delivers a clever forensic mystery. This effort does not quite pack the emotional and dramatic wallop of his last book, The Special Prisoner, but it does raise powerful questions about the ethics of whitewashing historical truths. Dr. Don Spaniel is an archeologist with the National Park Service. He is puzzled by an unusual grave discovered at the Civil War battlefield in Antietam,, Md., site of the single bloodiest day of fighting in America’s military history. The skeletal remains of a Union officer reveal that the victim had been executed. While trying to identify the dead officer, Spaniel learns that the name on his I.D. tag is that of a man buried as a local hero back in his Connecticut hometown after the war. Who, then, is this unfortunate soul, and why was he wearing another man’s identity tag? And why was he murdered? As Spaniel uses sophisticated, high-tech forensic equipment and procedures in his investigation, a 100-year-old written confession surfaces in an Iowa historical archive, and Spaniel suddenly realizes the magnitude of the mystery. What he doesn’t grasp, however, is that the descendants of the Civil War veterans are just as passionate about honor today as their great-great-grandfathers were in 1862. Spaniel’s professional fervor, and his ultimate decision about whether to disclose the truth, could have unintended, tragic results. Lehrer’s style is fluid and fast moving; he skillfully develops suspense surrounding a compelling ethical dilemma. Agent, Tim Seldes. (Aug. 27) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. KLIATTIt’s easy to recommend this historical mystery. The pace is brisk, the plot; centered around a body dug up on a Civil War battlefield; is interesting, and the author gives us a good dose of history and historical prose style to enjoy. Despite the paper-thin characterizations and some awkward attempts to show the effect of the past on the present, the central mystery holds the reader’s attention: Who was shot, execution-style, and buried just yards from Burnside Bridge and Antietam Creek? Our detective is Don Spaniel, a workaholic archeologist for the National Park Service, and his main clues are the contents of the grave and an incendiary document he tracks down in Iowa. In the course of his investigation, Don and the reader learn, sometimes in horrifying detail, the story of the 1862 charge on Burnside Bridge that resulted in more than 20,000 casualties. In one particularly gruesome passage Don imagines the village church when it was a field hospital, sees the saws grinding through flesh and bone, and hears the screams. The mystery of the body is, of course, solved, but, in a somewhat ambiguous ending, the attempt to suppress the full story results in one last death. The main character, however admirable, is a company man and goes along with the cover-up. Perhaps the author’s theme is that we must accept the truth as best we know it, that honest history is our best guide to who we are. KLIATT Codes: JSA;Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Random House, 222p. map., Healy Library JournalWhen two Civil War relic hunters stumble upon human remains on a hill overlooking Antietam Creek, National Park Service archaeologist Dr. Don Spaniel is called in to excavate. This novel follows Spaniel’s quest for the truth and the consequences of his decision to reveal his discoveries. Spaniel employs the help of a forensic anthropologist, a retired army colonel and Civil War history buff, the Army War College, and various historical societies in solving the mystery. Excerpts from the fictional journal of Union soldier Albert Randolph are interspersed throughout, along with detailed snippets from actual archived materials, giving the novel the fullness and flavor of historical fiction. Though focused on fictional characters both past and present, this novel provides a considerable amount of history incidental to Civil War military life, especially at Antietam, in addition to being a very entertaining story. Though Antietam is the subject of various adult and juvenile fiction, most notably Bernard Cornwell’s The Bloody Ground, this latest effort by news commentator-author Lehrer (The Special Prisoner) is recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4-1-02.] - Jean Langlais, St. Charles P.L., IL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. Kirkus ReviewsPublic TV worthy and sometime novelist Lehrer (The Special Prisoner, 2000, etc.) invents and solves a crime committed at the battle of Antietam. Bureaucrats and Civil War reenactors are at the faintly beating heart of a story that cuts back and forth soberly between the diary of a Union sergeant and the workdays of a-there is no other way to put this-geeky (six foot eight, unpleasantly thin, and girlfriend-less for decades) government archaeologist trying to put a name on a newly discovered skeleton near Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek in Maryland, scene of one of the war’s most vicious and devastating battles. Don Spaniel, the government’s man of science, is on the scene as dirt is brushed away from the bones in an unmarked grave, revealing various oddities. For one thing, the soldier is face down. And he seems to have been shot through the back of the skull, perhaps by the Colt revolver that set off the metal detector wielded by the skeleton’s discoverer. And maybe his hands were bound. Was he executed by the Rebs? Dr. Spaniel is able to draw on the many experts he’s come to know in his National Park Service tenure, and clue by clue, expert by expert, he gradually learns that the bones once belonged to Kenneth Allbritten, an officer in the Eleventh Connecticut Volunteer Regiment, an outfit ordered by the criminally stupid Union General Ambrose Burnside to take and cross a stone bridge over Antietam Creek, exposing the men to murderous gunfire from the well-entrenched rebel forces on the opposite bank. Lehrer lets us know what Spaniel will learn through the diary entries of Albert Randolph, one of two chums recruited from his hometown by the valiant, perhaps too-valiant, LieutenantAllbritten. On his way to the solution, Spaniel tries on, and is eerily possessed by, Union Army drag, visits the soldiers’ hometown, has a spooky fleeting contact with an Iowan, and sounds, in his spoken cadences, strangely like an iconic newscaster. Overreverent and, despite a shocking ending, largely inert. List Price: $$23.95 Our Price: $4.98

Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland Frederick Tilberg Our Price: $6.00

No Certain Rest Jim Lehrer From the Publisher: "On a ridge overlooking Burnside Bridge - the focus of the Battle of Antietam - souvenir hunters find the unmarked grave of an unknown Union officer." "Don Spaniel, an archeologist in the National Park Service, is called in to examine the remains. He soon discovers that the officer was murdered and that his identification disk could not possibly belong to him, since its rightful owner is buried elsewhere. So who was this officer? Where did he come from? And why was he killed?" Spaniel’s obsessive investigation leads not only to his reliving the horrible carnage that occurred at Burnside Bridge over a century before, but to the true identity of the Union officer and the reason why another body resides in his grave in a small New England town. Synopsis: The topic of Jim Lehrer’s 13th novel is a crime scene investigation, but this is not your average CSI mystery. The victim wasn’t exactly murdered; he was executed; and he didn’t die recently; he succumbed over a century ago on a great American battlefield. In the hands of the PBS anchor, the case of the anomalous Antietam skeleton becomes an exploration into individual character and national identity. From The Critics: Publishers WeeklyIn his 13th novel, PBS NewsHour anchor Lehrer delivers a clever forensic mystery. This effort does not quite pack the emotional and dramatic wallop of his last book, The Special Prisoner, but it does raise powerful questions about the ethics of whitewashing historical truths. Dr. Don Spaniel is an archeologist with the National Park Service. He is puzzled by an unusual grave discovered at the Civil War battlefield in Antietam,, Md., site of the single bloodiest day of fighting in America’s military history. The skeletal remains of a Union officer reveal that the victim had been executed. While trying to identify the dead officer, Spaniel learns that the name on his I.D. tag is that of a man buried as a local hero back in his Connecticut hometown after the war. Who, then, is this unfortunate soul, and why was he wearing another man’s identity tag? And why was he murdered? As Spaniel uses sophisticated, high-tech forensic equipment and procedures in his investigation, a 100-year-old written confession surfaces in an Iowa historical archive, and Spaniel suddenly realizes the magnitude of the mystery. What he doesn’t grasp, however, is that the descendants of the Civil War veterans are just as passionate about honor today as their great-great-grandfathers were in 1862. Spaniel’s professional fervor, and his ultimate decision about whether to disclose the truth, could have unintended, tragic results. Lehrer’s style is fluid and fast moving; he skillfully develops suspense surrounding a compelling ethical dilemma. Agent, Tim Seldes. (Aug. 27) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. KLIATTIt’s easy to recommend this historical mystery. The pace is brisk, the plot; centered around a body dug up on a Civil War battlefield; is interesting, and the author gives us a good dose of history and historical prose style to enjoy. Despite the paper-thin characterizations and some awkward attempts to show the effect of the past on the present, the central mystery holds the reader’s attention: Who was shot, execution-style, and buried just yards from Burnside Bridge and Antietam Creek? Our detective is Don Spaniel, a workaholic archeologist for the National Park Service, and his main clues are the contents of the grave and an incendiary document he tracks down in Iowa. In the course of his investigation, Don and the reader learn, sometimes in horrifying detail, the story of the 1862 charge on Burnside Bridge that resulted in more than 20,000 casualties. In one particularly gruesome passage Don imagines the village church when it was a field hospital, sees the saws grinding through flesh and bone, and hears the screams. The mystery of the body is, of course, solved, but, in a somewhat ambiguous ending, the attempt to suppress the full story results in one last death. The main character, however admirable, is a company man and goes along with the cover-up. Perhaps the author’s theme is that we must accept the truth as best we know it, that honest history is our best guide to who we are. KLIATT Codes: JSA;Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Random House, 222p. map., Healy Library JournalWhen two Civil War relic hunters stumble upon human remains on a hill overlooking Antietam Creek, National Park Service archaeologist Dr. Don Spaniel is called in to excavate. This novel follows Spaniel’s quest for the truth and the consequences of his decision to reveal his discoveries. Spaniel employs the help of a forensic anthropologist, a retired army colonel and Civil War history buff, the Army War College, and various historical societies in solving the mystery. Excerpts from the fictional journal of Union soldier Albert Randolph are interspersed throughout, along with detailed snippets from actual archived materials, giving the novel the fullness and flavor of historical fiction. Though focused on fictional characters both past and present, this novel provides a considerable amount of history incidental to Civil War military life, especially at Antietam, in addition to being a very entertaining story. Though Antietam is the subject of various adult and juvenile fiction, most notably Bernard Cornwell’s The Bloody Ground, this latest effort by news commentator-author Lehrer (The Special Prisoner) is recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4-1-02.] - Jean Langlais, St. Charles P.L., IL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. Kirkus ReviewsPublic TV worthy and sometime novelist Lehrer (The Special Prisoner, 2000, etc.) invents and solves a crime committed at the battle of Antietam. Bureaucrats and Civil War reenactors are at the faintly beating heart of a story that cuts back and forth soberly between the diary of a Union sergeant and the workdays of a-there is no other way to put this-geeky (six foot eight, unpleasantly thin, and girlfriend-less for decades) government archaeologist trying to put a name on a newly discovered skeleton near Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek in Maryland, scene of one of the war’s most vicious and devastating battles. Don Spaniel, the government’s man of science, is on the scene as dirt is brushed away from the bones in an unmarked grave, revealing various oddities. For one thing, the soldier is face down. And he seems to have been shot through the back of the skull, perhaps by the Colt revolver that set off the metal detector wielded by the skeleton’s discoverer. And maybe his hands were bound. Was he executed by the Rebs? Dr. Spaniel is able to draw on the many experts he’s come to know in his National Park Service tenure, and clue by clue, expert by expert, he gradually learns that the bones once belonged to Kenneth Allbritten, an officer in the Eleventh Connecticut Volunteer Regiment, an outfit ordered by the criminally stupid Union General Ambrose Burnside to take and cross a stone bridge over Antietam Creek, exposing the men to murderous gunfire from the well-entrenched rebel forces on the opposite bank. Lehrer lets us know what Spaniel will learn through the diary entries of Albert Randolph, one of two chums recruited from his hometown by the valiant, perhaps too-valiant, LieutenantAllbritten. On his way to the solution, Spaniel tries on, and is eerily possessed by, Union Army drag, visits the soldiers’ hometown, has a spooky fleeting contact with an Iowan, and sounds, in his spoken cadences, strangely like an iconic newscaster. Overreverent and, despite a shocking ending, largely inert. Our Price: $12.95

25 Bicycle Tours in Maryland: From the Allegheny Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay Anne H. Oman From the Publisher: This new second edition features updated cycling tours ranging from the western mountains, to urban waterfronts, to Civil War battlefields. With a varied terrain that includes the forested slopes of the Allegheny Mountains, hilly farmland along the Pennsylvania border, pine-filled woodlands along the upper Chesapeake Bay, and the flat expanses of the Eastern Shore, Maryland is perfect for cycling adventures. For this completely revised and updated second edition, Anne Oman has traveled throughout the state to assemble 25 trips, including four new tours, ranging from a day’s outing to a weekend inn-to-inn tour. Visit the wild ponies of Assateague Island; spin through Antietam National Battlefield and other historic sites; explore the streets of Baltimore and Annapolis; or raise your pulse on a hard ride around Sugarloaf Mountain. The rides range in length from 5 to 95 miles. Each tour description includes a detailed map, as well as information on mileage, terrain, where to eat and repair a bike, and natural and historic highlights you’ll see along the way. 4 new tours in this edition. 20 black and white photographs • 26 mapsAuthor Biography: Anne Oman has worked as a writer and editor for National Geographic World and Senior Scholastic magazines, and has contributed numerous articles to the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Washington Times, Washington Star, Washington Woman, and Mid-Atlantic Country. She is also the author of 25 Bicycle Tours in and around Washington, DC and co-author of Saturday’s Child: Family Activities in Metropolitan Washington. Our Price: $15.95

Archaeological Perspectives on the American Civil War Clarence R. Geier (Editor) From the Publisher: From studies of Antietam Battlefield, site of the bloodiest day in American military history, to Andersonville, the infamous Confederate prison, these graphically illustrated essays broaden our understanding of the American Civil War. They demonstrate how historical archaeology, combined with the traditional techniques of the study of history, generates new insights into battlefield tactics, social and military history, and the effects of the war on civilians and communities. The paperback edition includes a new foreword by award-winning journalist Jim Lehrer. Clarence R. Geier, professor of anthropology at James Madison University, is coeditor of Look to the Earth: Historical Archaeology and the American Civil War. He has directed and collaborated on historical archaeology projects at the battlefields of Third Winchester, Cool Spring, and Cedar Creek and has conducted research at the site of the Sheridan Field Hospital. His most recent work has focused on the interpretation of the Confederate military complex of Fort Edward Johnson-Camp Shenandoah in Augusta County, Virginia. Stephen R. Potter, regional archaeologist with the National Park Service for the National Capital Region, has overseen archaeological research at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Manassas National Battlefield Park, and Antietam National Battlefield. His work was featured on "Death at Antietam," a television program produced by the Learning Channel. He is the author of Commoners, Tribute, and Chiefs: The Development of Algonquian Culture in the Potomac Valley. From The Critics: Edwin C. Bearss - historian emeritus, National Park ServiceArchaeological Perspectives on the American Civil War is must reading for professionals, collectors, and all people interested in battlefield archaeology, the material culture of the Civil War era, and the preservation of associated sites. Because of the popularity of Civil War literature and archaeology, this well-illustrated and well-written publication will appeal to the general public, as well as to the professional community.Douglas D. Scott - Midwest Archaeology Center, Lincoln, NebraskaSpeaks to the carnage of war, figuratively and literally, as each author [investigates] the physical evidence of the war and its ramifications to those living at the time and in our culture today. There is little question that the American Civil War changed the fabric of our culture in ways that are still being felt today, and this volume provides a real and tangible link, via the material culture left behind by its participants, to that time.Civil War Book ReviewAn impressive compendium of varying but related methods of understanding the war through historical archaeology. Readers willing to expend some effort will come away with a better understanding of the Civil War. Our Price: $27.95

Guide to the Battle of Antietam Jay Luvaas (Editor) From the Publisher: "I highly recommend this important and valuable series of guidebooks."—Herman Hattaway, coauthor of How the North Won the Civil War and Why the South Lost the Civil War"These guides can be enjoyed without ever leaving the easy chair, or they can become indispensable companions on tramps over the scenes of the greatest engagements of the Civil War."—William C. Davis, author of Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour List Price: $$14.95 Our Price: $14.20

Mystic Chords of Memory: Civil War Battlefields and Historic Sites Recaptured David J. Eicher From the Publisher: In this pictorial work, David J. Eicher not only visits the most famous Civil War battlefields - Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Antietam among them - but also introduces readers to an array of lesser-known battle sites as well as monuments, forts, houses and farms, cemeteries, and museums. The color photographs, chosen from Eicher’s vast personal collection, are supplemented by powerful, historical black-and-white photographs that propel readers back to the Civil War era. The resulting work captures the most important, unusual, and interesting places associated with the war as they stand today. Eicher’s probing analysis of the arduous four-year struggle provides background on its origins, interpretations of its major battles, and a summary of the war’s aftermath. Peppered with more than 150 quotations from the journals, letters, and diaries of Civil War participants, the narrative allows readers to absorb the human aspects of the greatest of America’s national tragedies. Our Price: $47.95

Archaeological Perspectives on the American Civil War Clarence R. Geier (Editor) From the Publisher: From studies of Antietam Battlefield, site of the bloodiest day in American military history, to Andersonville, the infamous Confederate prison, these graphically illustrated essays broaden our understanding of the American Civil War. They demonstrate how historical archaeology, combined with the traditional techniques of the study of history, generates new insights into battlefield tactics, social and military history, and the effects of the war on civilians and communities. The paperback edition includes a new foreword by award-winning journalist Jim Lehrer. Clarence R. Geier, professor of anthropology at James Madison University, is coeditor of Look to the Earth: Historical Archaeology and the American Civil War. He has directed and collaborated on historical archaeology projects at the battlefields of Third Winchester, Cool Spring, and Cedar Creek and has conducted research at the site of the Sheridan Field Hospital. His most recent work has focused on the interpretation of the Confederate military complex of Fort Edward Johnson-Camp Shenandoah in Augusta County, Virginia. Stephen R. Potter, regional archaeologist with the National Park Service for the National Capital Region, has overseen archaeological research at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Manassas National Battlefield Park, and Antietam National Battlefield. His work was featured on "Death at Antietam," a television program produced by the Learning Channel. He is the author of Commoners, Tribute, and Chiefs: The Development of Algonquian Culture in the Potomac Valley. From The Critics: Edwin C. Bearss - historian emeritus, National Park ServiceArchaeological Perspectives on the American Civil War is must reading for professionals, collectors, and all people interested in battlefield archaeology, the material culture of the Civil War era, and the preservation of associated sites. Because of the popularity of Civil War literature and archaeology, this well-illustrated and well-written publication will appeal to the general public, as well as to the professional community.Douglas D. Scott - Midwest Archaeology Center, Lincoln, NebraskaSpeaks to the carnage of war, figuratively and literally, as each author [investigates] the physical evidence of the war and its ramifications to those living at the time and in our culture today. There is little question that the American Civil War changed the fabric of our culture in ways that are still being felt today, and this volume provides a real and tangible link, via the material culture left behind by its participants, to that time.Civil War Book ReviewAn impressive compendium of varying but related methods of understanding the war through historical archaeology. Readers willing to expend some effort will come away with a better understanding of the Civil War. Our Price: $55.00