This is a very good battle study of three key battles in one of the war's most overlooked theatres of operations. Cozzens has produced an excellent study of Corinth, Iuka, and Davis' Bridge, and by the end of the book has made a good case for this being a minor turning point of the war in the west.

However, there's a major caveat emptor: Cozzen's is looking to take potshots at Ulysses S. Grant, and often times covers over the mistakes or even outright malfeasance of others to make his points in that regard. Two examples come to mind. First, Cozzens ignores good evidence that Rosecrans attempted to smear Grant by having a staff member claim that Grant was drunk at Iuka. Secondly, Cozzens gives credence to Rosecrans' claim that he could have marched to Vicksburg in 6 days and easily destroyed Van Dorn's army in the process, when in reality Vicksburg was a months' march away and reinforcements were already on the way to Van Dorn.

Without the egregious Grant bashing, this book gets five stars.