Confederate State of Richmond: A Biography of the Capital Book

1966 Ph.D. Dissertation--Rice University Eminent Civil War historian Emory Morton Thomas has another winner with this, his 1st book. I previously read Thomas' book, The Confederate Nation, which, altho written in the late 1970s, is still the best work on the history of the Confederacy's non-military side. This book is just as good & is one of the best of a growing list of works on Richmond. Thomas, a native of the city, writes the book in such a way that you feel like you are there in the city. He starts off with a brief sketch of the city & notes that Richmond had often led in revolutionary times. He quickly jumps to the war years & does a great job of using a variety of sources such as newspapers, diaries, journals, memoirs, 2ndary sources, congressional records & the minutes of the city council to paint a portrait of the capital city. The chapters fly by in this very readable book. A very interesting book to read, easy to read & as entertaining as history gets. Along with Ernest Fergusun's Ashes of Glory, the best book on wartime Richmond during the Civil War.--Thomas W. Robinson