"Goes beyond traditional military history, offering fresh perspective on the initial changes that confronted the state's civilian population.... Lucid, insightful, and well-researched."
~North Carolina Historical Review
"This fine work belongs on the bookshelves of every knowledgeable student of the war, right next to the first volume in this excellent series."
~The Free Lance-Star
"This book is highly recommended to those interested in various aspects of Virginia in the Civil War during 1861."
~www.curledup.com
"Unquestionably a valuable contribution to Civil War scholarship. More than a background story, Virginia at War, 1861, is the compelling story of a people at war."
~James M. Prichard, On Point
"This collection of essays surveys a myriad of aspects of how the Civil War in Virginia affected its inhabitants."
~History Wire
Her diary entries close this enlightening examination of the effects of total war on a society.
~Roanoke Public Library Foundation
This book covers some interesting areas of lesser-known history of life in Virginia during the Civil War.
~Curled Up.com
[The essays] connect common threads that reveal a state in turmoil, simultaneously undergoing important social changes that would extend far beyond the war.... challenge the privileged position of battle accounts, suggesting that am much more complicated and seminal experience took place.
~LSU Libraries' Special Collections
As in previous volumes in this series, editors William C. Davis and James I. Robertson, Jr. have brought together what is definitely an interesting group of essays.
~Blue & Gray Magazine
"[This is] a collection of strong essays that confirm established wisdom about the Old Dominion's wartime experience and [provide] a composite view of the challenges the state faced as it entered the conflict's final year."—Civil War History
"William C. Davis and James I. Robertson, staples of Civil War publications, created a series of anthologies to examine Virginia in every year of the conflict. Their latest volume covers the events and aspects of the Old Dominion in 1863, the defining year—militarily and socially—of the war. The contributors, a blend of established authors and young historians, examine many aspects of the war with the focus clearly on social aspects of the home front." — Louisiana History
"A well-rounded volume that will interest anyone wanting to know more about Virginia, both at home and at the front, during the war's final year."—Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
Robertson's accompanying notes once more give context to the entries, making them more accessible to scholars and lay readers alike. Virginia at War has something for everyone, and students of the American Civil War shoud find time to digest not only this volume, but also the other books in the series. — The Journal of American History
~Jason M. Frawley, The Journal of American History
The insight into the minds of Virginians in 1865 is invaluable, as are the rest of this book's contents.
~The Historian