Aims & Scope
The journal’s primary purpose is to keep both academic and lay readers up-to-date about the newest publications regarding the Civil War Era, a period bounded by the political crises of the 1850s and Reconstruction’s abrupt end in 1877. The CWBR honors its foremost commitment by soliciting reviews crafted by academic and independent scholars throughout the country. Books not reviewed by the journal are recognized by short annotations intended to not only guide interested readers to relevant material, but to also acknowledge the field’s breadth and depth.
In additional to surveying the field, the journal also cultivates a broad and diverse understanding of the Era, by publishing reviews for books that do more than state the familiar. In recent decades, the manuscripts reviewed in the journal analyze not only the battles or politics that rightly define the period’s turning points, but also closely examine how assumptions regarding race, class, region, religion, and gender defined the Civil War generation and that generation’s heirs. Each issue’s feature reviews and columns reflect the journal’s commitment to featuring the field’s groundbreaking publications.
Ultimately, the journal is both a scholarly and community resource. As a public and free web entity, the CWBR stimulates conversation among professional scholars and the general reading public; a public whose historical knowledge is often by necessity confined to threadbare stereotypes about why the United States plunged into civil war and how the nation internalized the war’s results.
The CWBR’s editorial board is an oversight committee tasked with ensuring that each piece of the journal’s content adheres to its publication guidelines and professional standards of historical writing. In addition to these responsibilities, the board consults quarterly with editor about the journal’s direction and content. The board consists of six members who specialize in the Antebellum, Civil War, or Reconstruction eras. Appointments are annual (year long) and open to graduate students or professional scholars pursuing a M.A. or PhD. Independent scholars with published books, articles, or reviews are welcome to apply as well. The CWBR treats all qualified applicants equally. Board appointments are first come, first serve. The editor will announce board openings on H-Net, or a comparable free public form.
