As the Forward to this beautifully rendered large format book states, "The war was first waged on paper. Before troops engaged in battle, both sides plotted strategy and tactics on the maps of the day. Knowing the field, understanding the terrain, recognizing the route of assault--and the line of retreat--could determine triumph or defeat." Perhaps more so than in wars since, the American Civil War was fought primarily by massing large troop formations against each other. As a consequence, moving those men and their equipment using the most efficient and advantageous route became paramount. More often than not, occupation of key terrain meant victory, and therefore, arriving at the right spot, first, and with the most men was a strategic necessity in every encounter.
Typical in books of this nature, what you experience is a detailed depiction of the array of military forces produced on a map after the battle was fought. What the author (William J. Miller) states as one of his primary objective in this book, was to provide the reader with a set of maps (in this case there are actually 32 removable maps) that were used by the participants in this war or would have commonly been available to them at the time. And to present with these maps, the same depiction of the terrain as seen by the commanders as they planned their operations. Miller's stated intent was to help the reader understand why a particular battle was fought the way that it was, rather than just how it was fought, as an after-the-fact. Having said that, Miller does include a number of very detailed and artistically accurate post battlefield maps, like the famous and extremely collectible Bachelder Bird's-eye Panoramic of Gettysburg. He also devotes a great deal space in the book to describing the technology of map making and reproduction at that time in history, and fills his book with interesting stories about the consequence of fighting blind or with gross geographically errors.
All in all this is a wonderful book. It is probably not the type of book to be read in one sitting or even sequentially, rather one to be kept as a reference and authoritative resource for reading and rereading. It simply is a beautiful book, truly unique in its field, and more than worth the price that is sells for new. It is a collectible filled with removable copies of collectible material. My highest recommendation for the Civil War enthusiast!