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by John R. Maass.
Softcover (6.7×9.3 inches). 96 pages. 2025.
As I read this latest volume in the Casemate Illustrated series, the text seemed awfully familiar. It was a nagging feeling. I looked at the copyright page and saw a reference to “main text” copyright 2013 Center of Military History, US Army. The boxed text, aka sidebars, were to Chris McNab. Nowhere did I see Maass mentioned. Now, that’s strange.
To the MagWeb archive (the website is long gone, but I still have a backup copy) and found what I was looking for — the “Blue Book” released by the US Army. I call it the Blue Book because on my copy the cover was blue. It’s like the WWII Green books, only, er, in blue. I did a quick comparison of the initial chapters of the Casemate version and the Blue Book version, which I believe was by Robert Coakley. My hard copy is earlier than 2013. Bingo. They are not identical, but generally close. Basically, the Casemate version is an abridged version of chapters from the Center of Military History Blue Book.
A quick Googling of Maass found he is an historian at the Center of Military History. Thus, it seems to me that he edited down a couple of chapters.
Hence the “main text” copyright, although US government produced work is generally in the public domain.
Obviously, you can find the entire Blue Book online with a two-second search. What you can’t find in the online version — but will find in abundance in the Casemate version — are the marvelous array of illustrations.
The booklet contains one black and white photo, 12 color photos, 11 black and white illustrations, five black and white maps, 33 color illustrations, and two color maps. Value add, indeed.
The Casemate Illustrated series still offers a great overview of a topic. Maass did a good job adapting US Army text into a readable overview of US military history from the end of the American Revolution to just prior to the start of the War of 1812.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
