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Fletcher Pratt is known to the SF&F community as the coauthor of the “Harold Shea” series (he did others, both with L. Sprague deCamp and alone, but those left a lasting impression). He is also known to wargamers as running a wargaming club in the 1930s, and publishing his naval miniatures rules in 1940.

He also did some historical writing, including a 320-page history of the ACW. It was originally titled Ordeal By Fire in 1935, and then the present title was given to the second edition in 1948. My dad was given a copy by his older brother around ’51, and it set him on the path of being a Civil War nut, and later a wargamer, and an author of books on the ACW. That particular copy has not survived, but he still has a 1963 9th printing of the Cardinal Edition he originally read. I have a 1968 Bantam edition.

In 320 pages Pratt isn’t going to, and doesn’t, say anything I don’t already know, but he does cover the subject well and energetically in that length.

He cycles through subjects, giving the broad movements, the battles, the leaders. Occasionally, there’s a chapter labeled as “Interludes” away from the war itself. Britain’s non-intervention, the draft riots, Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural. Everything is handled quickly, but never breathlessly, and passion in the writing carries things forward.

Overall, it’s a good book to develop a basic understanding of the ACW, and likely an interest in seeing more. Very good for all this is the maps. Unlike a lot of books that have a bare handful of maps, if that, and desperately need more, the list of maps here runs two pages.