Brian Holden Reid has written numerous books including, most recently, – America’s Civil War - The Operational Battlefield ( Prometheus, 2008) and Robert E Lee – Icon for a Nation (Weidenfeld, 2005). From 2001-07 he was Head of Department, Department of War Studies, King¹s College London. He is currently Professor of American History and Military Institutions. For twelve years he was Resident Historian of the Staff College, Camberley, and helped set up the Higher Command and Staff Course for senior officers. As a result, the great majority of the British Army's most senior commanders have been taught by him and also from the other two services, including the current Chief of the Defence Staff. Over the years he  made a special study of the styles of command, the theory of armoured warfare, the operational level of war in a historical context, and of the contribution of the British Army to military thought. He is currently engaged in writing a major new history of the American Civil War. In 2004-5 he was the first non-American to serve as a member of the Lincoln Prize Jury Panel for the award of the most important literary prize in Civil War history. Among his many appointments, he is an elected Trustee of the [US] Society for Military History, Honorary Vice President of the Society for Army Historical Research, and from 2003-09 a Trustee and member of the Council of the National Army Museum, London.