Vicksburg is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River

William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel’s Vicksburg is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River is well written, concise, and at only 232 pages it covers the key aspects of Grant’s campaign very effectively. You get the whole picture without too much detail. It is one of the better general history books on the Trans-Mississippi region. It includes excerpts from the common soldier, and at times gets into brief and colorful detail concerning the soldiers. Of course more would have been better, but the aim here was clearly brevity and I am all for that in this case. The author’s cover the military maneuvering with ease and hit the main developments. It is well illustrated with lots of maps and some detailed ones. If you want to know all you need to know about the “struggle” for Vicksburg (which started before Grant arrived on the scene), but not everything there is to know, this book is for you.