What American Civil War Books Are You Planning On Buying/Reading Next?

R. Evans

Sergeant
Joined
Jan 19, 2013
Location
Salem, Ohio
Forgive me if there is a thread like this around. I did a search and couldn't find anything.:smile:

So here goes. These 3 should be here tomorrow or Saturday. Can't wait to dive in.​
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I have currently been browsing online and my current must-read list is as follows:

  • Rebel Private, Front and Rear: Memoirs of a Confederate soldier by W.A. Fletcher
  • Military Memoirs Of A Confederate: A Critical Narrative by E.P. Alexander
  • Lady Rebel: The Story of Private Jane Perkins C.S.A. by Patty Bell
  • Detailed Minutiate of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 by Carlton McCarthy
I just bought the E.P. Alexander book and hopefully will be reading it soon..
 
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Unlikely Warriors: General Benjamin Grierson and His Family
William H and Shirley A Leckie, U of OK Press, Norman 1984

His accomplishments during and after the war are impressive, done without much recognition. His superiors could have used his talents much more intelligently.
 
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Advance and Retreat
J.B. Hood, Lt. Gen. CSA
Blue and Grey Press, Secaucus NJ 1985

Hood begins entertainingly, but much of the book is detailed troop movements in the Atlanta and TN campaigns, combined with a great deal of self-justification.

You may have noticed that I've been iced in for two weeks. The arctic front of 2/10-21/2021, which went clear to the Gulf, kept me from getting up the hill out of my hollow all that time.
 
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I am finally nearing the end of my 2020 book splurge. Since December I have polished off Eric Wittenberg's and Dave Powell's Tullahoma masterpiece, which led me to Lamers' timeless biography of Rosecrans (Edge of Glory) and James Ramage's sound biography of John Hunt Morgan. Thence to John Marszalek's balanced biographies of Sherman and Halleck (the latter was quite informative). Also enjoyed was General John Scales' intriguing work on the military planning of Sherman's North Georgia Campaign. Along the way, I read two alternate histories and George Orwell's Coming Up for Air, which was featured in one of the A/H's. My bedstand is down to Brian Steele Wills' recent biography of Thomas and Ben Fuller Fordney's biography of George Stoneman. When those are finished, I hope I can binge on the following:

Eric Wittenberg's et al. new book Seceding from Secession.
David Powell's new book on Chattanooga (The Impulse of Victory: Ulysses S. Grant at Chattanooga)
Stephen Davis' 2 volumes on Hood
Varney's General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of General William S. Rosecrans Influenced Our Understanding of the Civil War.

For domestic tranquility, I have to finish my existing stack before even thinking about acquiring the next tranche.

I have all this wonderful newfound leisure time both from COVID isolation and "cancellation" with total disgust all broadcast and internet news media and current events blogs. I never have never been on Twitter and never used Facebook. Probably TMI for this thread....
 
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I am just finishing up The Cornfield by Welker. Before that I read The Real Horse Soldiers.

I have some older books on order including Ed Bearss Brice's Crossroads, a book on George Thomas as well as the 6th Wisconsin by Dawes. They are all First Editions and I can't wait to dig in.
 
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I am finally nearing the end of my 2020 book splurge. Since December I have polished off Eric Wittenberg's and Dave Powell's Tullahoma masterpiece, which led me to Lamers' timeless biography of Rosecrans (Edge of Glory) and James Ramage's sound biography of John Hunt Morgan. Thence to John Marszalek's balanced biographies of Sherman and Halleck (the latter was quite informative). Also enjoyed was General John Scales' intriguing work on the military planning of Sherman's North Georgia Campaign. Along the way, I read two alternate histories and George Orwell's Coming Up for Air, which was featured in one of the A/H's. My bedstand is down to Brian Steele Wills' recent biography of Thomas and Ben Fuller Fordney's biography of George Stoneman. When those are finished, I hope I can binge on the following:

Eric Wittenberg's et al. new book Seceding from Secession.
David Powell's new book on Chattanooga (The Impulse of Victory: Ulysses S. Grant at Chattanooga)
Stephen Davis' 2 volumes on Hood
Varney's General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of General William S. Rosecrans Influenced Our Understanding of the Civil War.

For domestic tranquility, I have to finish my existing stack before even thinking about acquiring the next tranche.

I have all this wonderful newfound leisure time both from COVID isolation and "cancellation" with total disgust all broadcast and internet news media and current events blogs. I never have never been on Twitter and never used Facebook. Probably TMI for this thread....
Great book. And you are correct... it was a masterpiece. I enjoyed it immensely.
 
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Forgive me if there is a thread like this around. I did a search and couldn't find anything.:smile:

So here goes. These 3 should be here tomorrow or Saturday. Can't wait to dive in.

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“No Better Place To Die” is quite good. Anything Peter Cozzens writes is well done. Two older books about The Battle of Franklin that I would suggest are “Five Tragic Hours” by James L. McDonough and “Embrace An Angry Wind” by Wiley Sword.
 
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Now I am reading A Pride of Lions by William Lemke. My kind of book: social history. It's a collection of biographical summaries of ACW generals from Maine: Joshua Chamberlain as well as Adelbert Ames, Hiram Berry, Selden Connor, Jonathan Cilley, Neil Dow, Oliver Howard, Thomas Hyde and Sewall Pettingill--their lives before, during and after the War. Plus a series of events incurred by some of the Maine regiments.

It's an interesting book and is making up for the time that I wasted reading a book entitled "Glittering Illusion".
 
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Very recently purchased three books from Eric Wittenberg. Currently reading "Six Days of awful fighting" Cavalry operations on the road to Cold Harbor.
Next up will be "Little Phil" A Reassessment of the Civil War leadership of Philip Sheridan.
Lastly we have Seceding From Secession. The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia. Saving this for last as I suspect it to be loaded with legalese and I'll have to slog through it.
 
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I recently purchased:
The Maps of the Cavalry at Gettysburg by Bradley M Gottfried (the latest in his Maps of series - great books that show the military manoeuvres of military units in the battles/campaigns being discussed with detailed footnotes that I find very useful for further research when desired); and
The Union War by Gary W Gallagher (following a recommendation by @unionblue on another thread). I'm enjoying it [half-way through it] but find it odd that in several reviews it was described as 'revisionist' history because it demonstrates that the North was fighting for Union rather than some other reason (e.g. free the slaves).
 
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