About the Author

David J. Eicher is the author of several books on the Civil War, among them The Longest Night and Civil War High Commands. He lives in Wisconsin.
James M. McPherson is a professor of American history at Princeton University and the author of numerous important books on the Civil War, including the Pulitzer Prize winning Battle Cry of Freedom.
Lee Vande Visse is a professional illustrator and graphic designer with a longtime interest in Civil War history.

Reviews

The Civil War changed the course of America, and, the battle that changed the course of the war was fought on farmland at Gettysburg, Pa. That battle is re-created in "Gettysburg Battlefield: The Definitive Illustrated History" by David J. Eicher, with a foreword by Civil War historian James M. McPherson. In three days, July 1-3, 1863, nearly 8,000 died and another 38,000 were missing or wounded.
With essays by 15 Civil War historians and nearly 500 illustrations, the book takes readers from the Confederate army's northward march, through three days of fierce fighting and to the Union victory and Confederate retreat.
Among the visuals are maps with cutaway views to show the role topography played, side-by-side photos of key sites at battle's end and the same sites today, and thumbnail photos and sketches of monuments and sites, and of the battle's key participants. - Chicago TribuneHere is one of the most exciting and best-executed Civil War picture books to be published since the American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War by Bruce Calton 40 years ago. It's a new benchmark against which future volumes of its kind will be judged. David J. Eicher's Gettysburg Battlefield is just what the title claims it to be: definitive. This is surely one of the most attractively designed books about a Civil War battle ever published, blending contemporary and period photographs to create the most complete photographic coverage of Gettysburg to date. The work owes a debt to Gettysburg, A Journey in Time by William A. Frassanito, and, indeed, Eicher acknowledges Frassanito's groundbreaking research again and again as he compares views of the battlefield taken in the 1860's and afterward with gorgeous color photographs shot in the past few years. There is no attempt to duplicate Frassanito's work; Gettysburg Battlefield updates and supplements it. One delightful surprise is the large number of photos that many readers will not have seen before. Also welcome are t