Welcome to North & South

Editorial
THE SAVAGE WAR
This issue’s article on irregular war is a topic dear to
my heart. For many years I have felt that the neglect of the
internecine struggle that raged across much of the South
left our view of the Civil War incomplete. In addition, this
neglect allowed some to claim that the events of 1861-
65 were not a “civil” war at all (though this contention
was usually made in relation to the political status of the
combatants rather than to the realities on the ground). It
also allowed states such as Virginia to refer, in their modern
history curriculum, to the “divided North” and “united
South”!
Over the years I have attempted to redress this neglect in
the pages of North & South, with regular articles on intrastate
conflict in the South and the border states. Articles have
appeared in these pages on internal struggles in Alabama,
Georgia, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri,
Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maryland. We plan to bring you
further such articles covering Virginia, West Virginia, and
North Carolina.

AND THE SAVAGE ECONOMY
It will be news to readers if I remark that the economy is
in a mess. Overall, nationally, magazine sales have fallen by
25%. Thankfully sales of North & South have not fallen—in
fact Barnes and Noble just upped their order. That’s the
good news. The bad news is that many companies—
including book publishers, who constitute the largest part
of our advertising base—have slashed their advertising
budgets. This does impact North & South. In order to
cope with this new reality we have taken steps to cut our
production and distribution costs. Regular readers will note
that the number of pages has been cut from 100 to 84; about
10 of the absent pages would have been advertising, and we’’
eliminate the other 6 in a way that will preserve the number
and range of articles in each issue. (On average articles will
be about 700 words and one illustration shorter.) There will
be a little less color also. And distribution, as noted in the
last issue, is now concentrated in the retail outlets with the
highest sell-through, notably book stores. So if you find you
can no longer get the magazine at your local supermarket,
trundle down to the nearest book store—or better yet take
out a subscription! These changes have allowed us to cut our
print bill by almost 50%. So after the pause of the last few
weeks, when we were reorganizing, we should now be back
on a regular bi-monthly schedule. And one other piece of
(very) good news—from next issue we will be back with our
regular number of maps.

Keith Poulter


HOME EDITORIAL BACK ISSUES SAMPLE ARTICLES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR DO YOU KNOW? ADVERTISERS	Editorial THE SAVAGE WAR This issue’s article on irregular war is a topic dear to my heart. For many years I have felt that the neglect of the internecine struggle that raged across much of the South left our view of the Civil War incomplete. In addition, this neglect allowed some to claim that the events of 1861- 65 were not a “civil” war at all (though this contention was usually made in relation to the political status of the combatants rather than to the realities on the ground). It also allowed states such as Virginia to refer, in their modern history curriculum, to the “divided North” and “united South”! Over the years I have attempted to redress this neglect in the pages of North & South, with regular articles on intrastate conflict in the South and the border states. Articles have appeared in these pages on internal struggles in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maryland. We plan to bring you further such articles covering Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. AND THE SAVAGE ECONOMY It will be news to readers if I remark that the economy is in a mess. Overall, nationally, magazine sales have fallen by 25%. Thankfully sales of North & South have not fallen—in fact Barnes and Noble just upped their order. That’s the good news. The bad news is that many companies— including book publishers, who constitute the largest part of our advertising base—have slashed their advertising budgets. This does impact North & South. In order to cope with this new reality we have taken steps to cut our production and distribution costs. Regular readers will note that the number of pages has been cut from 100 to 84; about 10 of the absent pages would have been advertising, and we’’ eliminate the other 6 in a way that will preserve the number and range of articles in each issue. (On average articles will be about 700 words and one illustration shorter.) There will be a little less color also. And distribution, as noted in the last issue, is now concentrated in the retail outlets with the highest sell-through, notably book stores. So if you find you can no longer get the magazine at your local supermarket, trundle down to the nearest book store—or better yet take out a subscription! These changes have allowed us to cut our print bill by almost 50%. So after the pause of the last few weeks, when we were reorganizing, we should now be back on a regular bi-monthly schedule. And one other piece of (very) good news—from next issue we will be back with our regular number of maps. Keith Poulter