We have a trend here

Drew is reviewing Kentucky's Civil War.

Johns Hopkins has sent me Maryland Voices of the Civil War.

And I got briefly excited when I noticed the new title Ohio's War: the Civil War in Documents.

So we have a trend. But it is not a good trend. These are feelgood books.

In the case of Ohio, I want to see the threads of local politics traced back to Salmon Chase's hands; give me the interplay that brings Governors Chase, Dennison, and Tod to the Lincoln cabinet; I want to see Dennison running the war in the west through his man McClellan; I want details of the Dennison/Yates/Morton military strategy conference of 1861; I want exploration of the McDowell - Dennison cousinship; I want gazette content too, including men raised, desertions, census data, and more. But here's what is actually on offer: "Ohio’s War uses documents from that vibrant and tumultuous time to reveal how Ohio’s soldiers and civilians experienced the Civil War."

How they felt. Damn it.

Maryland Voices offers us the same deal but with a mix of Confederate and Union materials. It contains little analysis. Entertaining? Yes. Mindless? Completely.

Of the bunch, Drew's decription makes Kentucky's Civil War look more palatable than the other two books. It contains essays (analysis, arguments) and there are so many essays included, the reader must eventually find something interesting.

Perhaps this stuff is aimed at state-level student markets.