In 1997, John Stanchak, an editor at Cowles Enthusiast Media (now part of Primedia), realized his vision of ""a publication that contained the best, most up-to-date scholarship on the [Civil] war, but was edited with the amateur historian in mind,"" with the publication of Columbiad: A Quarterly Review of the War between the States. In the four years the journal was published, it strived to lessen the rift between the scholarly world of professional historians and the ""popular"" history with which the general reader is more familiar. Now, a selection of the essays that best represent the successful balance between ""serious scholarship"" and a narrative reading style preferred by the educated layman has been collected in The Ongoing Civil War. The nine essays, written by such distinguished scholars as John Marszelak, Albert Castel, Archer Jones, Mark Snell, Noah Trudeau, and others, provide deeper insight into the war, introduce the general reader to unsung heroes, and correct some popular misrepresentations of history.