The good folks at Osprey Publishing sent me a review copy of their new book American Civil War Guerrilla Tactics by Sean McLachlan.  I plan on reading it this weekend and will post a full review later, but I did thumb through the book and here are some first impressions.

Let me start off with Osprey books in general.  Truth is I am a visual person married to an artist, therefore: I like the visuals in Osprey books.  Maps, period photographs, and art depicting uniforms adorn most Osprey titles.  And it helps me learn, so I naturally like them.

A brief perusal through the book shows the usual visuals.  I also noticed that many of the major personalities are covered (Morgan, Forrest, Quantrill, etc…), there is a section for the impact of the guerrillas on the war and a section of the aftermath.

The “Selected Bibliography” contains mostly standard works on the subject, though I would have added William Trotter’s Bushwackers to the list.

My first impressions are indeed favorable.  A more detailed review is to follow.