Wagner (a writer/editor in the Publishing Office of the Library of Congress) gathers a wealth of visual imagery related to the American Civil War from the collections of the Library of Congress, including daguerreotypes, etchings, maps, political cartoons, and paintings. Accompanying the 500 or so images on facing pages are brief textual descriptions of the events they depict, related diary entries and newspaper articles, or similar materials. The material is organized into thematic chapters bearing the titles: Irrepressible Conflict, Gathering Momentum, War in the East, Wartime Politics, Wan on the Water, Fighting for Freedom, Turning points, Army Life, War in the West, Behind the Lines, Valor and Sacrifice, and An Uneasy Peace. Oddly, a rather minor feature of the book is announced in the subtitle: each of the 365 textual pages includes a one-sentence reference to a significant event of a particular day during one of the years of the war. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)