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Recommended American Civil War Readings

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  • #2
    Battle Cry of Freedom: I am fairly well-read on the ACW, but I learned LOTS from this one. My highest recommendation.

    Shelby Foote's trilogy: I have NEVER been as engaged when reading history, and I read a LOT of history. My highest recommendation.

    Landscape Turned Red: An outstanding account of the day's events, as well as terrific insights into the before and after of the battle. I used it as my guide book for my own personal 'staff ride' on Antitam National Battlefield. My highest recommendation.

    Team of Rivals: Reading it now. The most important aspect of the ACW, the political angle in Washington. More than any other battlefiled, HERE is where the war was guided and decided. If you want to understand the War, don't read about the famous battles; read about the politics. My highest recommendation.

    The Killer Angels: Right behind my Flashman, Hornblower and Aubrey series, there's THIS incredibly vivid and engaging account of the personalities and the realities of the Gettysburg Campaign. I never thought a work of fiction could teach me this much about my most beloved are of study, but Scharra is faithful to and is singulalry eqipped to tell the story. My highest recommendation.

    Gingrich's Gettysburg: Worth reading for the alternate historical outcome. I enjoyed it, and it certainly is a tale that captures all the 'waht-ifs' that the battle has generated ever since Pickett marched into glorious destruction. Recommended.

    If y'all think I was too free with the 'My highest recommendation', think again. shek has managed to list the absolute top-flight list of the books I have personal knowledge of, and it is no exageration to say that at the completion of each of the ones I've listed, you'll know what all Americans SHOULD know about the most crucial aspect of their history, and WHY it has made us into the country we are today.

    Well, actually...you may want to read those first two through TWICE. I did, and came away with even more than the first time.:)

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    • #3
      Look up Shelby Foote best Civil War author on the Civil War imho.

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      • #4
        Blue,
        Thanks for the response. I guess I should have indicated which ones I have already read, which I have now done. I concur with your thoughts on those that I have already read - I decided to move Words that Remade America to the politics section, as this book gets at how the Gettysburg Address reshaped our national self-image from "the United States" (think plural) to "The United States" (think singular). Some of the portions of the book are slow and cumbersome reading, especially if you are not well versed in the Greek classics (I am not, but have read some of the more pertinent texts such as Thucydides' "History of the Peloponnesian War" so I was able to muddle through it), but it is worth it to muddle through those portions for the insight gained from the other sections.
        "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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        • #5
          shek,

          i thought gingrich's book was interesting...not least of which, the author's conclusion that a loss at gettysburg and the later destruction of the army of the potomac...would mean the civil war ends earlier, with union victory
          There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

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          • #6
            Originally posted by astralis View Post
            shek,

            i thought gingrich's book was interesting...not least of which, the author's conclusion that a loss at gettysburg and the later destruction of the army of the potomac...would mean the civil war ends earlier, with union victory
            Astralis,

            Although I am not a civil war buff, I believe their thoughts are that the Union had the logistical infrastructure, but lacked the generalship to take advantage of it. Combine that with the need for the South to obtain a decisive victory to prior to the 1864 elections and the sense for the kill of General Lee, I think that the scenario is plausible.

            What I need to do at some point is to read all of Lincoln's correspondence with the Generals. The few that I have read are quite fascinating.
            "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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            • #7
              Contemporary Sources are Superb

              Students of the American Civil War are blessed with an abundance of extant firsthand accounts. Perhaps the best among them are the memoirs of Generals Grant and Sherman, which are very well-written and relatively free of apologetics.

              They are both available on Project Gutenberg, so you're just a few clicks away from some very good reading:

              http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4367

              http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4361

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              • #8
                Grant's memoirs are almost unique in that he has rendered one of the most honest accounts of his times - bad and good. THAT is fidelity to the truth, and whatever other faults the man had, self-agrandizement wasn't one of 'em.

                He was a helluva man, and when he took the Army of the Potomac past the fork in the road and on along the road to more and even worse battles after the meat grinder of the Wilderness...it was a moment that had the absolute timestamp of history on it, and it literally saved the Union for the rest of us, and the entire world, too.

                And the Army knew it, too: right then and on the spot, each regiment began a spontaneous cheer as the passed that fork, some marching to their deaths, but they knew their commander would FIGHT, and eventually, he would WIN.

                And this backs up what I've always said: the one thing even the dimmest soldier understands is VICTORY. I've served under tough commanders, and I don't mind if they're hard as nails. But I want to WIN, and if he's a winner...I'll follow him.

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                • #9
                  Here’s a couple I found interesting.
                  Quantrill’s War by Duane Schultz
                  Soul Of The Lion by Willard M. Wallace a biography of Joshua L. Chamberlain
                  High Tide at Gettysburg by Glenn Tucker
                  When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. - Anais Nin

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                  • #10
                    Bruce Catton

                    I'm sorta a Bruce Catton man. Loved his books. Can't think of one that was a poor read. A STILLNESS AT APPOMATTOX, GRANT TAKES COMMAND, AND MR. LINCOLN'S ARMY.

                    The Killer Angels remains a wonderful point of departure for Gettysburg.
                    "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                    "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

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                    • #11
                      A rambling, off the top of my head listing.

                      Western Theater

                      Peter Cozzens:

                      The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth

                      No Better Place To Die: The Battle of Stones River
                      This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga
                      The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga
                      Wiley Sword

                      Shiloh, Bloody April

                      The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville

                      Glenn Tucker Chickamauga: Bloody Battle in The West

                      Eastern Theater

                      Steven Sears

                      Landscape Turned Red
                      Richmond Redeemed

                      Gordon Rhea
                      The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864
                      The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7-12, 1864
                      To the North Anna River, May 13-26, 1864
                      Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 - June 3, 1864
                      Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! by George C. Rabble

                      A Wilson Greene
                      Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion
                      Civil War Petersburg
                      “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                      Mark Twain

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                      • #12
                        Link: Last Chance For Victory

                        "Last Chance For Victory"

                        Believe it or not, but another book about Gettysburg. Excellent read.


                        That Devil Forrest. The Life of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
                        J. A. Wyeth.

                        "First published in 1899, this book is based almost entirely on accounts of those who knew Forrest personally and on contemporary records. Grant called him "that devil Forrest." Sherman, it is reported, considered him "the most remarkable man our civil war produced on either side." Without military education or training, he became the scourge of Grant, Sherman, and almost every other Union general who fought in Tennessee, Alabama, or Kentucky. Paper. 614 pp."
                        Last edited by GAU-8; 28 Apr 07,, 20:44.

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                        • #13
                          Jeffrey D. Wert

                          Just finished his bio, "James Longstreet- The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier".

                          A good read of a complex man unfairly derided by his peers. As much as anything, it illuminated for me the intense personal jealousies that plagued the command hierarchy of the south.
                          "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                          "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

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                          • #14
                            Jeff Wert

                            I went to a symposium a few years ago on the Corps Commanders of the Army of Northern Virginia. Jeff Wert was one of the speakers and of course he talked about Old Pete. He broke up the crowd when he remarked that Longstreet was the best of Lee's corps commanders....but he also was the only Confederate general to lose to Burnside!! (Knoxvill 63)

                            Jeff Wert made a great point when he pointed out that Longstreet led the 4 greatest infantry charges in the Civil War; 2nd Manassas, Gettysburg, Chickamauga & The Wilderness.

                            Always thought LOngstreet got short shrift by the Lost Cause folks.
                            “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                            Mark Twain

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post

                              Always thought LOngstreet got short shrift by the Lost Cause folks.
                              ...and especially by Early!
                              When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. - Anais Nin

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