"Southern Strategies is a collection of essays written exclusively by US Army War College professors and former students, all of whom, except the editor, are recently retired or active-duty colonels. Using the lenses of strategic theory, most prominently the DIME construct (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic instruments of national power), the ends-ways-means paradigm, and Clausewitzian thought, the contributors evaluate why and how the Confederacy lost its bid for independence. It is truly a one-of-a-kind work: there has never been an all Professional Military Education (PME)-authored book on any topic in the Civil War, and no previous work has ever consistently and thoughtfully applied classical and modern strategic theory to the historical problem of strategic rebel defeat. The book thus offers fresh and innovative interpretations in considering the old question of why the South lost the Civil War"-- Provided by publisher.

Introduction / Christian B. Keller -- Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and strategic contingencies in the 1862 Valley campaign / Christian B. Keller -- Confederate economic and fiscal policies : root causes of defeat / Col. Eric Johnson -- Lee's blind horse : Confederate intelligence operations in the 1862 Maryland campaign / Kevin K. McCall -- For want of friends : the failure of Confederate diplomacy / Col. (Ret.) Erik Anderson -- Going north in 1863 : balancing boldness and risk in the pursuit of strategic imperatives / Col. Chris Compton -- The forgotten trans-Mississippi theater and Confederate strategy / Col. (Ret.) Michael J. Forsyth.