Union That Shaped the Confederacy: Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens Book

I'm no Johnston fan, but fortunately, Newton explicitly limits his assessment of Johnston to his actions in Virginia leading to his wounding at Seven Pines. He insists that we have to judge Johnston's Virginia campaigns without reference to his later failures in the war. That seems fair, and Newton makes a good case. This is no polemic and no hagiography of Johnston. He offers plenty of criticism of Johnston but also much context. He's even fair to Jefferson Davis. The writing is excellent, well paced and fluent.

This volume incidentally serves as an excellent book on the Confederate side of the early Peninsula Campaign, especially the battle of Seven Pines. Surprisingly, the battle - the largest in the East at that time - has had no separate book published except for Newton's own treatment which is out of print and unavailable except at high cost.