Any Civil War buff will treasure this lavishly illustrated volume depicting the tactics and strategies of the Civil War and profiling the large selection of military equipment used by both sides. Drury, an editor of Combat & Survival (a subscription-only British periodical devoted to military uniforms and gear), and Gibbons, author and illustrator of books on battleships and Civil War naval history, have composed the only book on the Civil War to date that describes small arms (handguns and rifles), field and siege artillery, naval ordinance, and ships. The strong point of the book are Gibbons's excellent illustrations (over 400 in color), which not only portray the weapons of the Union and the Confederacy but also provide unique perspective drawings of battles and landscape and cross sections of weapons, forts, and naval vessels. Drury's text offers insight into how modern technology would alter future tactics--the Civil War being the first experiment in modern warfare. No other single volume on Civil War weapons contains information on so many different weapon systems. Recommended for all collections. - Richard Nowicki, Emerson Vocational H.S., Buffalo, N.Y. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Civil War Military Machine explains how the battles of the Civil War were fought -- how the armies and navies harnessed new technology and new weapons in a conflict of unprecedented innovation. Readers will examine the full range of military equipment used by the Union and Confederate forces, from pistols to siege cannon and ironclad warships. The full range of military equipment used in the first "modern war" is described and illustrated including pistols, muskets and rifles, carbines, machine guns, and field artillery. The battles include The Siege of Peterburg, The Defenses of Nashville, Running the Forts at New Orleans, and The Bombardment of Fort Pulaski. The Civil War Military Machine covers all of the weapons, strategies, and fighting men that helped shape modern American history. A significant contribution to Civil War studies. -- Midwest Book Review Used Book in Good Condition