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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Two new books caught my interest that were released earlier this year. Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War by Tom McMillan and A Fire in the Wilderness: The First Battle Between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee by John Reeves. Also another one released last year called Andersonville Raiders: Yankee versus Yankee in the Civil War's Most Notorious Prison Camp by Gary Morgan
 
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Two new books caught my interest that were released earlier this year. Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War by Tom McMillan and A Fire in the Wilderness: The First Battle Between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee by John Reeves. Also another one released last year called Andersonville Raiders: Yankee versus Yankee in the Civil War's Most Notorious Prison Camp by Gary Morgan
Of course @Gary Morgan is one of our members, forum hosts, and authors and has produced several interesting threads about his topic as "teasers" for his book.
 
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Wow I did not know that.

Of course @Gary Morgan is one of our members, forum hosts, and authors and has produced several interesting threads about his topic as "teasers" for his book.
I'm blushing.

I'm not sure about "teasers" on the raiders book - I have a tendency to tell everything I know when it comes to the raiders. Teasers are generally me still working out things for the next book, and asking for help. I'm working on another book on Andersonville, tentatively titled "Unknown Andersonville" that covers all of the cool stuff I discovered while working on the raiders but had to set aside to finish the raiders.
 
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I'm blushing.

I'm not sure about "teasers" on the raiders book - I have a tendency to tell everything I know when it comes to the raiders. Teasers are generally me still working out things for the next book, and asking for help. I'm working on another book on Andersonville, tentatively titled "Unknown Andersonville" that covers all of the cool stuff I discovered while working on the raiders but had to set aside to finish the raiders.
Be careful with the following with @Grant's Tomb. When he joined last year I noticed he had hit the 'Follow' button on me. I notified him that it gave me quite a start, that over the shoulder sort of creepiness. Anyway, he probably will enjoy a good paranormal reckoning. Cheers, and happy you two get to meet.
Lubliner.
 
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I have been busy the past month or so following the Tullahoma tour.

First, I read Hardee: Old Reliable, by Nat Hughes. Then I took a break and read some very good CW historical fiction recommended on this site. In order:

Shattered Nation, by Jeffrey Brooks
The Black Flower, by Howard Bahr (which led me to non-CW Pelican Road by the same author which I read next)
Varina, by Charles Frazier.

Next in the queue:

General Edmund Kirby Smith, CSA, by Joseph H. Parks
A Carolinian Goes to War: The Civil War Narrative of Arthur Middleton Manigault (still on my bed stand)
Confederate General William Dorsey Pender: The Hope of Glory, by Prof. Brian Steel Wills (ditto)
The Lost Gettysburg Address, by David T. Dixon
Jefferson Davis, American, by William J. Cooper, Jr.
Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate, by Eli N. Evans
First Lady of the Confederacy, by Joan E. Cashin

The latter 3 were inspired by Varina.
 
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To prepare for the CWT Muster at Antietam, I bought James M. McPherson's "Crossroads of Freedom- ANTIETAM; The Battle that Changed the Course of the Civil War" for a mere $5.
Will I read it? Probably NOT.

The book has only 1 chapter on the Battle of Antietam. It covers all the battles of 1862 that leads up to Antietam and then seems to address the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation.
I re-read "Landscape Turned Red" which had almost two chapters dedicated to discussing General McClellan. However, I did enjoy it because of the details of the Battles of Harpers Ferry and South Mountain and of course Sharpsburg.
 
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To prepare for the CWT Muster at Antietam, I bought James M. McPherson's "Crossroads of Freedom- ANTIETAM; The Battle that Changed the Course of the Civil War" for a mere $5.
Will I read it? Probably NOT.

The book has only 1 chapter on the Battle of Antietam. It covers all the battles of 1862 that leads up to Antietam and then seems to address the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation.
I re-read "Landscape Turned Red" which had almost two chapters dedicated to discussing General McClellan. However, I did enjoy it because of the details of the Battles of Harpers Ferry and South Mountain and of course Sharpsburg.

This book is one of the "Pivotal Moments in American History" series that it is intended to illuminate important departure points in US history, and explcitly not meant as a battle history. The point is to put the battle in the larger context of the war era.

See https://www.thriftbooks.com/series/pivotal-moments-in-american-history/39287/

I thought it was pretty good, even though a lot of devoted CWT readers will find it rather elementary. It probably works best as a text book to 11th or 12th grade advanced placement history class.
 
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To prepare for the CWT Muster at Antietam, I bought James M. McPherson's "Crossroads of Freedom- ANTIETAM; The Battle that Changed the Course of the Civil War" for a mere $5.
Will I read it? Probably NOT.

The book has only 1 chapter on the Battle of Antietam. It covers all the battles of 1862 that leads up to Antietam and then seems to address the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation.
I re-read "Landscape Turned Red" which had almost two chapters dedicated to discussing General McClellan. However, I did enjoy it because of the details of the Battles of Harpers Ferry and South Mountain and of course Sharpsburg.
I like the Stephen Sears (Landscape Turned Red) book on Antietam because I’m a fan of maps in a book. He has six maps of troop movements at Antietam: Daybreak, 6:00-7:30 am, 7:30-9:00, 9-1:00 pm, 10:00-4:30, and Nightfall. These follow the movements of the Federal First, Twelfth, Second and Ninth Corps. The map at Nightfall pretty much sums it up....
The other Antietam book I have and love is the Frassanito one. I think he uses his spectacular selection of photographs to describe the battle, much as Sears did with his use of maps.
In addition to the battlefield and other photographs, he also selects several specific soldiers who died in the battle, along with their portraits and their family bios. Among them are General McClellan’s first cousin, Harrison White ( 28th Pennsylvania), Lt. John Clark ( 7th Michigan ), Charles E. King ( 49th Pennsylvania, who enlisted at twelve yrs.old, and died at thirteen), Lt. John Thomas Gay ( 4th Georgia ). Note on Lt. Gay from the book: he was shot in the chest, shipped to four hospitals, exchanged and furloughed home to recover by Christmas. He rejoined his unit in January, 1863. On 12 July, 1864, he was shot at Fort Stevens. Treated in Richmond and sent home to recover. Rejoined unit and shot in thigh at Fort Stedman on 25 March, 1865. Treated in Richmond hospital, where he died on 28 April, 1865 after the surrender.
 
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Last month I read Edward Porter Alexander's "Fighting For The Confederacy." Best Civil War book I have ever read. Does not read like a history book, you feel you are there in the battles. He had an interesting take on South Carolina firing on Ft. Sumter. He feels the North provoked it with Maj. Anderson's actions.
Just finished "Grant" by Ron Chernow. Fantastic book on Grant from his childhood to death. I stopped at page 650 after he was elected president in 1868. Then, jumped ahead and read about Custer. It's 950 pages about.
 
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Last month I read Edward Porter Alexander's "Fighting For The Confederacy." Best Civil War book I have ever read. Does not read like a history book, you feel you are there in the battles. He had an interesting take on South Carolina firing on Ft. Sumter. He feels the North provoked it with Maj. Anderson's actions.
Just finished "Grant" by Ron Chernow. Fantastic book on Grant from his childhood to death. I stopped at page 650 after he was elected president in 1868. Then, jumped ahead and read about Custer. It's 950 pages about.
The book by Porter was hard to read for me because many of the names were redacted.
Lubliner.
 
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