Dear Ma: The Civil War Letters of Curtis Clay Pollock First Defender and First Lieutenant, 48th Penn

(From the Publisher) - Curtis Clay Pollock served bravely with the 48th Pennsylvania, one of the Civil War's most famous fighting regiments, from the regiment’s organization in September 1861 until his mortal wounding at the Battle of Petersburg in June 1864, participating in the regiment’s many campaigns in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee and seeing action at some of the war’s most sanguinary battles, including 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Knoxville.

That's a lot of history! The author, John Hoptak does an incredible job of tellings us the history of the war for one single person all through letters to his mother. I shudder to think how the art of letter writing is lost in the days of modern-day soldiers and their cell phone's ability to email, text, call and take photos right as things are happening.. (This is the same reason I love bookstores and historical societies and their dusty, inky smells!)

I was gripped page after page in his story - my only complaint is that in galley form the letters to his ma seemed to get lost amongst the historical facts and the odd formatting of the .ascm files. I knew little about the war being that I grew up in Canada and we rarely if ever, were taught American History beyond the Grade 13 credit available in it said subject.

This is an excellent book for history and war history fans in your life.

Thank you, Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book --- as people who follow me know, I do not regurgitate what the book is about as the title and cover is usually a giveaway PLUS that is what the description from the author and publisher at the top of the pages where I post reviews are for. (Goodreads, Amazon. etc. )