Civil War History is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of its December 2011 issue. This journal, which has served as the leading venue for scholarly publications on the Civil War period for the last five decades, is published by the Kent State University Press, and the journal is a collaborative endeavor of the University of Akron and Kent State University. The journal publishes on a wide variety of topics related to the conflict, including political, social, economic, cultural, and military issues. In addition, it includes an extensive book review and book notes section as well as scholarly forums on the contemporary debates surrounding the Civil War.

The contents for the December issue include a much-anticipated quantitative study on the human costs of the war as well as a regional study of desertion amongst North Carolina soldiers and a scholarly discussion on the ongoing Civil War Sesquicentennial:

Articles:

J. David Hacker, “A Census-Based Count of the Civil War Dead” -With introductory remarks by Lesley J. Gordon, Kevin Adams, and James M. McPherson
-Hacker argues that the traditional counts of Civil War dead have been vastly underestimated; in fact, America's bloodiest war was even more deadly than usually assumed or stated.

Scott King-Owen, “Conditional Confederates: Absenteeism among Western North Carolina Soldiers, 1861-1865”
-King-Owen applies existing studies of soldier motivations and discontent within the Confederacy to explore the reasons why western North Carolinians fought, or did not fight, in the Confederate Army.

Historians’ Forum:

The American Civil War’s Centennial vs. the Sesquicentennial
-Prominent American historians compare the Civil War's controversial (and failed) centennial celebrations to the ongoing and much less politicized sesquicentennial events.

Book Reviews and Book Notes

For further information about the journal, including subscription rates, see http://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/journals/civil-war-history/