FIRST BULL RUN

This is the opening battle of the Civil War and this is a good opening book on the subject. Certainly it won't be the last, because this is the kind of writing that prods the interest of the reader. The movement of the battle is always clearly delineated, and never is there that sense of mass confusion that so often afflicts battle accounts. And all along the way there are sharp insights into the political situation as it evolved during the course of the action and into the personalities from the leadership on down.