Published in 2012, winner of the Bancroft Prize, I've finally gotten to it in my backlog.
The vast bulk of military history books consist consist of battle and campaign accounts, and biographies of military leaders. There are few books on more abstract subjects in the field. Mark Grimsley's classic The Hard Hand of War is a notable entry in the latter category. Grimsley covers the evolution of Federal military policies towards the Confederacy as they progressed during the war.
Lincoln's Code intersects with Grimsley's work in an interesting way. While Grimsley focuses on the narrow 5 year span of the Civil War, Witt's timeline runs from George Washington's early experiences as a Colonial officer in Virginia during the French-and-Indian wars through to the Philippine Insurrection. Witt's focus is on the evolving state of the laws of war, and in particular, he points to the development of the Lieber Code in 1862, issued to the Union forces as General Orders 100, as a critical pivot point.
Continue reading "Book Review: Lincoln's Code: The Laws of War in American History, John Fabian Witt"