Book cover of The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege: A Sensory History of the Civil War

Book description

Historical accounts of major events have almost always relied upon what those who were there witnessed. Nowhere is this truer than in the nerve-shattering chaos of warfare, where sight seems to confer objective truth and acts as the basis of reconstruction. In The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Historian Mark M. Smith is one of the pioneers of the truly exciting field of sensory history. Smith’s book is a model for how the next generations of historians can expand our understanding of the power and spectacle of war through a focus on all the senses. Smith’s chapters pick a particular sense at a particular Civil War site—my favorite is “Cornelia Hancock’s Sense of Smell,” which helps us appreciate how the assaults of transgressive smells lasted far beyond the three days of combat at Gettysburg.  Each chapter is carefully crafted to illustrate how an assault of the senses threatened…

From Edward's list on American battlefields.

If you love The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege...

Ad

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Want books like The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege.

Browse books like The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege

Book cover of Written in Stone: Public Monuments in Changing Societies
Book cover of A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek
Book cover of Shadowed Ground: America's Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,211

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege, you might also like...

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

Book cover of Old Man Country

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Lane and the Inventor by Amy Q. Barker,

Book cover of Lane and the Inventor

A grumpy-sunshine, slow-burn, sweet-and-steamy romance set in wild and beautiful small-town Colorado. Lane Gravers is a wanderer, adventurer, yoga instructor, and social butterfly when she meets reserved, quiet, pensive Logan Hickory, a loner inventor with a painful past.

Dive into this small-town, steamy romance between two opposites who find love…

5 book lists we think you will like!