Retirement has not slowed Dr. Earl J. Hess, a prolific Civil War historian and author of nearly thirty books, more than thirty articles, and well over a hundred book reviews in leading academic history journals. In the past year and a half, Dr. Hess, who held the Stewart McClelland Chair in History until 2020, has published two well-received books, July 22: The Civil War Battle of Atlanta (Univ. Press of Kansas, 2023), a thorough study of all aspects of the most prominent battle of the Civil War’s Atlanta Campaign, and Civil War Field Artillery: Promise and Performance on the Battlefield (LSU Press, 2022), the first comprehensive general history of the artillery arm that supported infantry and cavalry in the conflict. Dr. Hess also has a book review in the current issue of the Journal of American History in which he reviews Civil War historian Larry J. Daniel's, Engineering in the Confederate Heartland (LSU Press, 2022).
A few blurbs from July 22 sum up Dr. Hess's place as a leading Civil War scholar:
“Earl Hess’s July 22 immerses the reader in this crucial conflict at a level of detail never before achieved in any study of the battle. A tour de force of research and analysis, Hess’s work represents a massive step forward in our knowledge of this long neglected but vital episode of the war.”—Dr. Steven E. Woodworth, author of Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861–1865
"Further narrowing remaining gaps in our understanding of the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, this book is another great contribution from one of the masters of Civil War battle history writing."—Civil War Books and Authors
"With July 22, Hess, as he has so many times before, gives Civil War enthusiasts plenty of new evidence-based food for thought to challenge their preconceived notions."—Emerging Civil War