The Civil War: Unstilled Voices
Call it aGriffin and Sabinefor history  buffs--Chuck Lawliss'sCivil War: Unstilled Voicesis an excellent introduction to the War Between the States. Interactive facsimiles of 19th-century documents--a note written by John Brown en route to his execution, a diagram of theMonitor, a newspaper clipping of Lee's surrender, a pair of tickets to Ford's Theatre for the night of Lincoln's assassination--bring the Civil War to life. Pages from Mary Chesnut's diary, well known to many Civil War buffs, are somehow more impressive when viewed in her original script; while two letters from Isaac Overall, a Union soldier, to his wife, Jane, bring the human toll on the combatants into sharp focus--especially as they are accompanied by a letter from Isaac's cousin, informing Jane that Isaac had died.Charming as this package is, Lawliss fortunately doesn't stray into cuteness. Indeed, some of the images--of an emaciated soldier held at Andersonville, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp; of dead soldiers on battlefields--are difficult to view. Yet they, alongside letters, period photographs, and engravings--and even a cipher disk for reading code--are essential for a complete understanding of the conflict. An excellent gift for anyone interested in America's history.--Sunny Delaney