Winston Groom, of Forrest Gump fame, has published a  book on Vicksburg entitled Vicksburg, 1863.  Its copyright is this year.  The book approaches being 500 pages in length.  Groom cut Grant no slack on the drinking and none for Joe Johnston on dilly dallying around when he should have been taking action.  Groom points out that at one time during the siege the Confederate forces outnumbered the Federals, but this opportunity was squandered.  Groom emphasizes the intense competition between the two half brothers Porter and Farragut.  After the surrender at Vicksburg, Groom makes a strong “what if case” that the South should have surrendered.  Without going into all of the variables as to why it could not have happened, even though it made perfect sense to do so, it was impossible.  The strongest statement he makes is that the Vicksburg loss was  more significant than Gettysburg.  Gettysburg got the hype but the Vicksburg loss was much more catastrophic than Gettysburg,  It was a good read.