From the Editor's Desk: Meet the Books of Savas Beatie

I wouldn’t typically highlight the books of one publisher with whom I work, but over time it’s become clear to me that the books published by Savas Beatie really stand out. Publishing is a very expensive, low profit, and highly pressurized industry these days. I am privileged to work with any number of very high-quality publishers, including leading university presses such as the University of Virginia Press and Princeton University Press. No one puts out a better book at the price point than Savas Beatie does. (There are economic and intellectual reasons why academic presses price their books the way they do, but that’s a discussion for another day.)

​Savas Beatie specializes in military history, Civil War titles in particular. They are growing out their Revolutionary War list and Ted Savas, the owner and publisher, is making a bid to push into more recent military history with a number of stunning accounts from the Global War on Terror. Ross Berkhoff’s Beyond the Outpost, on which I was privileged to work, is a bestseller and a notable case in point.

Probably my favorite part of the Savas Beatie brand is the cover art. I just love every one of them. Typically relying on period-appropriate paintings or photographs, the covers often have a slightly washed effect that I find tasteful and compelling. Check these out and tell me they’re not some beautiful covers.

​The most cost intensive part of any book publication is the interior art, which is why contemporary publishers often skimp on photographs or other art, and if they do, they splash photos together as insert plates, which is much cheaper to produce. By contrast, Savas Beatie books always include dozens of photographs of principal characters and, even more impressive, a wealth of maps to help readers follow not just battles, but key turning points within a given battle, encounter, or campaign. These are not collected as insert plates, but helpfully distributed on the pages where they are most pertinent, the most expensive way to do this. The design and typesetting of chapter titles and subheadings is also unfailingly tasteful and pleasing.

​It may seem a minor point of praise, but as a working scholar, I can’t convey how much I appreciate that Savas Beatie uses FOOTNOTES in their books instead of endnotes. Endnotes are much cheaper to publish which is why EVERY OTHER publisher in existence uses them. But Ted Savas is a working scholar and writer himself (his new book on George Rains and Confederate gunpowder promises to be a gamechanger) and it’s one of the many strict standards to which he holds, costs be damned. I love a book with footnotes.

​Savas Beatie books also always include helpful appendices. These are often orders of battle for specific encounters, but other valuable data is presented as well. Chris Calkins’s account of the last days of the Army of Northern Virginia presents highly detailed accounting of the material that Lee’s men retained at the end of their final campaign. Every other book contains helpful and enlightening appendices as well.

​Frank O’Reilly’s stunning account of the Battle of Malvern Hill, Retreat From Victory, is an example of what the Savas Beatie brand offers. Frank’s book is a tour de force tactical description of one of the principal clashes of the so-called Seven Days’ Battle. He integrates meticulous, precise, and granular accounts of the battlefield with piercing strategic and political insights, showing exactly how troop movements on the field drove momentous political decisions taken in Washington. The book comes in at a hefty 412 pages and offers maps and illustrations, photographs, footnotes, an index, and appendices. And all for $40. I doubt there is such a value in hardcover nonfiction to be found anywhere else.    

Check out the Savas Beatie catalog to get a sense of their extensive list. They offer stunning books on individual battles and campaigns, but also so much more than this: highly useful primary source collections, books on the politics of both the Union and Confederacy, books about the prison systems, logistics, hospitals and camp life, biographies, navies, and more. One new book is an account of Ulysses Grant's post-presidency world tour, and another is a diary of his adolescent son, Fred, who was given free rein of the battlefield during the Vicksburg Campaign (seriously, check it out: Ulysses was a great general, but less than a fully responsible father!) There is something there for every taste and interest.

Savas Beatie has been around for more than twenty years, which is an extraordinary achievement for a small, independent press operating in this environment. Here’s to at least twenty more. 

​--David J. Snyder