Ulysses S. Grant once remarked that the Battle of Shiloh 'has been perhaps less understood, or, to state the case more accurately, more persistently misunderstood, than any other engagement during the entire rebellion'. In Rethinking Shiloh, Timothy B. Smith seeks to rectify these persistent myths and misunderstandings, arguing that some of Shiloh's story is either not fully examined or has been the result of a limited and narrow collective memory established decades ago.

Timothy B. Smith teaches history at the University of Tennessee, Martin. His most recent books include The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation: The Decade of the 1890s and the Establishment of America's First Five Military Parks, Mississippi in the Civil War: The Home Front, and Corinth 1862: Siege, Battle, Occupation.