NF Best book/worst book.

Non-Fiction
I've read far too many, but one of the earliest and one that has stuck with me since I got it for Christmas when it was first published in 1960 is The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War with text by Bruce Catton. I still like to pull it off the shelf and refer to it and look at the illustrations. One very disappointing work that comes to mind that wasn't truly awful but that has very little to recommend is The Greatest Brigade by Thomas Craughwell, supposedly a unit history of the famous Irish Brigade which I reviewed here: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-greatest-brigade-by-thomas-craughwell.135224/
 
On this site I think you're going to find that folks tend to be beyond the generalist stage and have particular interests, thus the many forums. Because of that it's hard to name a best book - it depends on what subject which is most recommended. The "best" book on the battle of Gettysburg is one thing, the "best" one about naval battles is something else.

You might want to look through this thread for some ideas (a number of members listed favorites):

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/standard-civil-war-reference-works.84521/

Are you looking for recommendations for beginning study or are you just curious about what folks liked/disliked ? Do you have some particular interest or is an overview more what you're looking for ? Narrowing your question might get you more responses.

Welcome to our little fold.
 
On this site I think you're going to find that folks tend to be beyond the generalist stage and have particular interests, thus the many forums. Because of that it's hard to name a best book - it depends on what subject which is most recommended. The "best" book on the battle of Gettysburg is one thing, the "best" one about naval battles is something else.

You might want to look through this thread for some ideas (a number of members listed favorites):

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/standard-civil-war-reference-works.84521/

Are you looking for recommendations for beginning study or are you just curious about what folks liked/disliked ? Do you have some particular interest or is an overview more what you're looking for ? Narrowing your question might get you more responses.

Welcome to our little fold.
I am just curious to see what people like and dislike.
 
I still feel too early in my personal reading/research to declare something as definitively the best or the worst.

But I have been very disappointed in the book I am reading now: Kate Clifford Larson's The Assassin's Accomplice about Mary Surratt. I keep finding excuses not to finish it, which is very contrary to how I normally read.

She's not a bad writer style-wise, but the research, to me, comes off as very lazy. I wanted to learn more about Surratt, but it seems like the Cliffs Note version of her life . . . which defeats my purpose in reading it.

Larson's endnotes are what frustrate me the most. They just redirect you to other sources to learn more about much of Surratt's life and seem heavily skewed toward secondary sources. She seems to reuse the same sources over and over again, which suggests to me she hasn't done all that much research on the subject, and tends to avoid providing extensive explanatory notes. She also repeatedly misspells Mosby's name. :eek:

I would be less disappointed if Larson didn't describe herself as a "historian." I didn't much care for her book on Rosemary Kennedy, either, now that I think about it.

I contrast that with another book I recently read and really liked on roughly the same topic: Michael Kauffman's American Brutus. He focuses more on John Wilkes Booth and the conspiracy as a whole, but the difference in quality is readily apparent. In addition to being a good writer who can generate suspense and tension with a well-known story, his endnotes are impeccable and made for fascinating reading on their own. He clearly was very familiar with sources and the subject, and I learned so much from that book. Not only about the Lincoln assassination but also about 19th century legal procedure and Civil War-era Maryland, among other topics. I'm still tormenting coworkers, family, and friends with trivia I picked up from it.

Give me another few months, and I might have updates on other books. :smile:
 
I would like to know what book about the American Civil War that you have read do you think is the best book you have ever read about the war and which book was the worst?
Well, I have to mention my own book, right? "That Bloody Hill: Hilliard's Legion at Chickamauga." It's the finest book on the Civil War that I have ever written. I would mention three others for being outstanding: "The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox: Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and their Brothers" by John C. Waugh; "Gettysburg: A test of Courage" by Noah Andre Trudeau and "Pickett's Charge in History and Memory" by Carol Reardon. Finally, you can't go wrong with anything written by Susannah Ural. My favorite, not including my own? Reardon's book mentioned above.
 
Two favorites are GRANT by Jean Edward Smith and my other favorite is HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG by Glenn Tucker. One gives the Northern perspective and one gives the Southern. Both outstanding!

Most books have something to offer but one that had nothing to offer was confederates in the attic by Tony Horowitz. It really denigrates the honor we give to our ancestors both North and South.
 
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I really enjoyed Gettysburg The Second Day by Harry Pfanz. The worst one easier Five Tragic Hours by James Lee McDonough, just boring as hell. It didn't help that later he turned out to be a plagiarist. So if one book is tainted. They all may be. I didn't like his Shiloh book either.
 
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The American Heritage book that's already been mentioned is my favorite general history, mostly for the pictures. And the nostalgia - it was my first book on the war. Bruce Catton "Glory Road" is one of 2 military histories that ever made me cry, so that's a best. Last page is pure poetry. Worst? Without a doubt, "Killing Lincoln." Bad history. Bad writing. Absolute drivel. Best information? Allan Nevins "Ordeal of the Union," first 4 volumes. I think he's a must read to understand the causes of the war.
 
I’m currently reading my way through Eric Foner’s “Politics & Ideology in The Age of The Civil War”. A bit dry and academic but very interesting when it comes to the background of diverse ideologies of the wider abolitionist movement. I picked it up mainly to read the bit about the early labor movement and it’s relation with the abolitionists, which was fascinating.

Next on my list is a book that details a Frenchman’s account of the war from a civilian European living abroad’s perspective which should be quite interesting.
 
Two favorites are GRANT by Jean Edward Smith and my other favorite is HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG by Glenn Tucker. One gives the Northern perspective and one gives the Southern. Both outstanding!

Most books have something to offer but one that had nothing to offer was confederates in the attic by Tony Horowitz. It really denigrates the honor we give to our ancestors both North and South.
I couldn't disagree more about Confederates in the Attic. I just finished reading it today and it is one of the few things I've read that falls into the "couldn't put it down" category. I was amazed when I saw that it's now almost twenty years old (!) because I think of it as a "new" book.
 
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I couldn't disagree more about Confederates in the Attic. I just finished reading it today and it is one of the few things I've read that falls into the "couldn't put it down" category. I was amazed when I saw that it's now almost twenty years old (!) because I think of it as a "new" book.
Maybe I’ll try to pick it up and read it again but I couldn’t get into the book at all. Maybe I’ll try again.
 
Maybe I’ll try to pick it up and read it again but I couldn’t get into the book at all. Maybe I’ll try again.
I meant to say more about it - I was fully expecting it to be just more Politically Correct South-bashing, but found the author really quite sympathetic with the many oddball characters he encountered in his travels. I couldn't help but wonder what he would think of the current fights over Confederate symbols, since that was going on twenty years ago too, though maybe not quite as virulent as now. About a third through he got bogged down in a racial incident involving a homicide and subsequent trial, but once through that sorry episode it picked up again in a week-long Civil Wargasm trip that reminded me in ways of one I made myself this April! That long chapter was like a tour guide to the then-current state of many principal Civil War sites. His involvements with "hardcore" Confederate reenactors also reminded me of several of my own experiences which I've posted about here in the Forums. I thought that overall Horwitz's book was a thoughtful look at some of the many and sometimes conflicting reasons we're continually fascinated with "our" war.
 
I would like to know what book about the American Civil War that you have read do you think is the best book you have ever read about the war and which book was the worst?

There are too many good books to pick one, or even two.

The two worst books are Thomas DiLorenzo, The Real Lincoln and Charles Adams, When in the Course of Human Events. Neither has any credibility and both rely on fabrication, half-truths, out of context quotes, and deliberate mischaracterizations.
 
I should add that as for Confederates... it certainly helps being now over seventy years old (ughhh...) and having lived through a LOT of the author's formative years and experiences (mine too!) and having seen as much intervening history (Civil Rights, urban sprawl, media proliferation, decline and diversification of public education, etc., etc.) that affects the way people look at things today vs. how they were viewed in the past. I think either a Civil War novice or younger reader might have trouble identifying with the author as much as I was able to with my own equally decades-long background as a Civil Warrior. Also, since he tries to be non-judgmental (although presenting his "characters" warts-and-all) it took a bit to confirm he wasn't being critical.
 
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Welcome!
It largely depends on your interests.
I can recommend my favorite, Gary W. Gallagher, Editor, Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander.(Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.).
If you want to understand the background for the secession crisis of 1860/61 and the ensuing rebellion, I recommend David M. Potter, The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War 1848-1860. (New York: Harper Collins, Inc., 1976)
For an overview, The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War. (New York: American Heritage Publishing Company, 1960), that others have mentioned is still the best.
I can also recommend the easy to read Catton trilogy:
Bruce Catton, The Coming Fury. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1961);
Bruce Catton, Terrible Swift Sword. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1963);
Bruce Catton, Never Call Retreat. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1965).​
There are also a number of very good, older books available for free at books.google.com.
Thus far I haven't encountered a 'worthless' Civil War book. All have something for us to learn.
 
Most books have something to offer but one that had nothing to offer was confederates in the attic by Tony Horowitz. It really denigrates the honor we give to our ancestors both North and South.

I read that book over 15 years ago as part of a Civil War in Popular Culture class. I should probably reread it because I'm sure I will see it very differently, for better or worse, than I did back then since my Civil War knowledge is vastly increased in the last decade.

I've done a good job avoiding the truly terrible Civil War books. There's lots of self-published trash out there in every genre. (Not every self-published work is bad though.)

Of things I have read, Jim Weeks' Gettysburg: Memory, Market, and Shrine was excruciatingly boring for me and I didn't finish it. I also find Clifford Dowdey's writing to be full of so many outdated ideas and pro-Confederate bias as to be worthless and unpalatable. I started to read one of his books without realizing what I was getting into; I didn't get far.
 
I read that book over 15 years ago as part of a Civil War in Popular Culture class. I should probably reread it because I'm sure I will see it very differently, for better or worse, than I did back then since my Civil War knowledge is vastly increased in the last decade.

I've done a good job avoiding the truly terrible Civil War books. There's lots of self-published trash out there in every genre. (Not every self-published work is bad though.)

Of things I have read, Jim Weeks' Gettysburg: Memory, Market, and Shrine was excruciatingly boring for me and I didn't finish it. I also find Clifford Dowdey's writing to be full of so many outdated ideas and pro-Confederate bias as to be worthless and unpalatable. I started to read one of his books without realizing what I was getting into; I didn't get far.

I have a lengthy review of Confederates in the Attic on the blog, including videos of Horwitz and Robert Lee Hodge talking about it.
 
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