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Recommended American Civil War Readings

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  • #31
    Originally posted by Bluesman View Post
    Shelby Foote's trilogy: I have NEVER been as engaged when reading history, and I read a LOT of history. My highest recommendation.
    I have those, in hardback, copyright 1958.

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    • #32
      Books battling for attention - Evening Sun

      Books battling for attention

      By MARC CHARISSSE
      Posted: 06/13/2010 01:00:00 AM EDT

      "Of making many books there is no end," Ecclesiastes tells us, "and much study is a weariness of the flesh."

      Every year about this time, a whole new bevy of Gettysburg books appears on the shelves. And every year, I pack my worn artillery haversack full of weighty tomes to take out on the battlefield.

      But the weariness comes mostly when I find that despite all those new titles, there is, to quote Ecclesiastes again, "nothing new under the sun."

      Mostly, I find myself packing those tried and true titles that have gotten me through the vicissitudes of Little Round Top, the chaos of the Wheatfield and the perils of Pickett's Charge. But last November, I finally found the book that could safely guide me across Gettysburg all by itself.

      So out of the dozens of Gettysburg books I've perused (or at least skimmed) here's my top-10 titles for understanding the battle, the ones that deserve a second, or even a third careful reading.

      1. "The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command," by Edwin Coddington, was published more than 40 years ago, and still remains to most experts the best single-volume book on Lee's 1863 invasion. At 600 pages, plus 200 pages of notes, Coddington isn't light reading, but it's the beginning of any serious study of the Gettysburg campaign. The old Confederate controversies are all there, but a century after the battle, Coddington returns needed focus to the Union leadership that did, after all, win the battle.

      2. "Gettysburg:The Second Day," by former chief Park Service historian Harry Pfanz is easily the most beautifully written book I've read on Gettysburg. Pfanz weaves together the complex operations and the lives and experiences of the men who fought and died on this bloodiest day of the three-day battle. July 2 had the greatest number of opportunities and disasters on both sides, and Pfanz masterfully shows his reader exactly why it was the decisive day of the battle,

      3. "Gettysburg Day Two: A Study in Maps." I picked up my copy of John Imhof's 1999 collection of tactical maps in a remainder pile in downtown Gettysburg a few years ago for a few dollars. Expect to pay hundreds if you can find one for sale now. No source beats the detailed tactical evolutions depicted on Imhof's regimental-level maps. And with some showing movements as little as 20 minutes apart, you can finally visually grasp the unfolding of the second day. "Maps of Gettysburg" by Bradley Gottfried is an acceptable substitute, and it also covers the first and third days, though not in the same glorious tactical detail.

      4. "Pickett's Charge" by George Stewart is hard to follow in places if you aren't already well versed in July 3 troop movements. But as it shifts its focus back and forth between antagonists, it captures the confusion and emotional truth of war. In the end, it delivers a cohesive picture of the great charge and its heroic repulse, but the book's real power is in the haunting mental images it conjures of men in battle.

      5. In "Gettysburg: A Journey in Time," William Frassanito changed the way we look at the battlefield. His research into early battlefield photography, and discovery of many new images, tell a timeless story in words and pictures. Besides, the many then-and-now pairings are eerily fun to recreate. Frassanito's two then-and-now collections, and even his massive "Early Photography at Gettysburg" usually manage to get squeezed into my haversack as well.

      6. Pfanz's "Gettysburg: Culp's Hill & Cemetery Hill" isn't quite as wonderful as his "Second Day." But it's a solid, highly readable study of this neglected, yet unique and fascinating part of the battle.

      7. "Plenty of Blame to Go Around," by Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi is the best study of J.E.B. Stuart's famous ride around the Union army. It includes detailed descriptions of the battles of Hanover and Hunterstown, as well as an excellent driving tour. A great book.

      8. "Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg" by John Busey and David Martin is a compendium of the losses at Gettysburg, killed, wounded and captured, regiment by regiment, followed by charts and tables of comparative losses. But in its stark, typewritten pages are ultimately poignant records of the human cost of war.

      9. "The Gettysburg Gospel" by Gabor Boritt. For many years, Gary Wills' "Lincoln at Gettysburg" has been my favorite book on the November address that redefined the battle and the nation. But Boritt's work is as thoughtful and a better read. A little less erudite, perhaps, but ultimately a richer retelling of the story.

      10. "The Complete Gettysburg Guide." At last, the one book I'd take to Gettysburg if I could only take one book. It's got everything - walking tours, driving tours, battle maps, monuments and battlefield lore. In a way, Petruzzi's new book is too good, pointing out all those cool rock carvings, dinosaur fossils and other hidden battlefield stuff some of us had to spend years to find.

      If you see me on the battlefield, I'll let you take a look at my copy. I'll be easy to spot - the guy dragging that old leather bag stuffed with books up the side of Little Round Top.

      Marc Charisse is editor of The Evening Sun. E-mail: [email protected]
      "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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      • #33
        Originally posted by Albany Rifles
        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
        I'm almost halfway through Gordon Rhea's 5 volume set (only 4 published to date, though) on the battle for the I-95 corridor (Overland Campaign).

        A superb series thus far that recounts details down to the brigade and regimental level during actions, woven together with vivid personal recollections of both staff officers and individual soldiers to color the action, and provides some strong analysis of the generalship of both sides. To date, I've found his analysis to be very even keeled and frank.

        I'd highly recommend this to anyone who's going to be visiting any of these battlefields, and one of these weeks this summer, once I finish up the master bath, I'll drive the hour south from occupied Virginia and check out the battlefields in depth
        "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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        • #34
          Vicksburg: The Campaign That Opened the Mississippi (Civil War America) by Michael B. Ballard

          EXCELLENT work on a key campaign. I really am enjoying his analysis of Pemberton and Johnston, their comamnd problems and how their indecision and inactions allowed Grant a great deal of freedom to be succesful. I am also gaining a better appreciation for McClernand as a battlefield commander. I also am enjoying that a couple of my favorite "unknowns" get their due, Peter Osterhaus as well as a Confederate John S. Bowen.

          Grab this book!!!
          “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
          Mark Twain

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          • #35
            Originally posted by Bluesman View Post
            Grant's memoirs are almost unique in that he has rendered one of the most honest accounts of his times - bad and good.
            I heartily agree. Probably due to the uncounted cigars sent to him by admirers, Grant succumbed to throat cancer in 1885. He finished his autobiography bedridden, unable to communicate except by note. Although occasionally self-serving, this is a military and literary masterpiece. This contemporary edition should be available at most public library systems:

            Personal Memoirs - Ulysses S. Grant / Penguin / 1991 (one volume reissue)
            sigpic

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            • #36
              I come to this thread to get away from the Ukrainian news...and see a post by Minskaya...may she rest in peace.

              So I have a couple of Civil War books to recommend...


              Kent Masterson's Brown's Meade At Gettysburg is a superb book. It gives a a great analysis of the Meade's command from when he took over. He takes on some of his fellow historians ascertains on some aspects of the campaign and offers an excellent counterpoint and cogent analysis. Cannot mention it enough. A great companion to to his also awesome Retreat From Gettysburg.

              I also recommend Ken Noe's The Howling Storm: Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War It is a fascinating study of many of the operations of the Civil Wart and how weather had an impact on the process and outcomes. I have looked a little differently at some generals I had treated more harshly now that I understand the impact weather had on their operations. It too is a great read and challenges some long held sacred cows.

              Get to reading!
              “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
              Mark Twain

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