Rating Historians

[ole]

I really don't like ratings, but it is an interesting question. Who, in your opinion, contributes most to your understanding of the USCW?

Gallagher? McPherson? McWhiney? Trudeau? Rhea? Krick? Robertson? Davis?

Name a couple who have been most influential with you.

 

[FrazierC]

Adam Goodheart and Stephen Sears. Good info, readable, etc.

 

[ole]

Never heard of Adam Goodheart. Please don't get me into buying more books I won't read anyway.

Okay. So tell me of Adam Goodheart.

 

[FrazierC]

Never heard of Adam Goodheart. Please don't get me into buying more books I won't read anyway.

Okay. So tell me of Adam Goodheart.

Haha, so he's the author of 1861: The Civil War Awakening. My school gave it to me because I won a history award. I didn't read it for a while, but picked it up and eventually started reading it. Starts kinda slow, but becomes a complete page-turner. Couldn't put it down, and was genuinely disappointed when it ended. In my top 3 favorite books.

 

[ole]

Is what I was asking for, Frazier. Thanks.

 

[Red Harvest]

I really don't like ratings, but it is an interesting question. Who, in your opinion, contributes most to your understanding of the USCW?

I can't say that any one author or even team of authors contributes most to my understanding. However, I tend to drill down to battle/campaign level, or aspects of naval, logistics, weaponry, and such rather than the general study of the war. I tend to assemble pieces from the best I can find that provide the history of individual events. As each new piece of the puzzle is added, the picture becomes clearer and more contiguous, but it is a slow way of studying the war.

It's like the old question of: what is your favorite book about the ACW? Answer: the last one I read (assuming it wasn't a dud.) I learn something new every time.

You know you have an ACW addiction when the first thing you look for when you examine a new book is the bibliography.

 

[ForeverFree]

I would say McPherson, Gallagher, Eric Foner, and Shearer Davis Bowman.

McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom is an awesome synthesis of Civil War scholarship, and it has stood the test of time. His book The Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union is a good introduction to the story of the African American role in the Civil War

I only have one book from Gary Gallagher, but he is an almost omnipresent force, on CSPAN and other Internet channels. His lectures and talks are always interesting and informative.

Eric Foner's book on Reconstruction (Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877) is a very good description of the successor period to the Civil War, and is extremely useful in understanding the impact the war had on the nation, and in understanding the conflicts and controversies that followed the war. I look forward to reading his Pulitzer Prize winning book on Lincoln (The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery). I have read portions of his book on the Republican Party (Free Labor, Free Soil, Free Men), and it offers valuable insights into the Party and its ideology.

Finally, I really really liked At the Precipice: Americans North and South during the Secession Crisis by the late Shearer Davis Bowman. There are a lot of books that focus on the coming and causes of the Civil War, such as David Potter's The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 and William Freehling's two volume set The Road to Disunion. But Bowman's book, though a sometimes tedious read, provides an excellent and updated discussion of the causes, conflicts, and players - both minor and major - who were caught in the maelstrom that led to secession. Plus, it's not a million pages long.

- Alan

 

[1SGDan]

I love Sears style and Ed Bearrs older works. Rhea is good but Cozzens is a bit too dry for me, although I have read four of his works

 

[Nathanb1]

I'm kinda fond of Eric Jacobsen. Dr. Richard McCaslin, Dr. Susannah Ural, Dr. Donald Frazier.....all good and probably mostly folks we only know on this side of the Mississippi (except for Dr. U). Loved the late Dr. Frank Vandiver...I read his Mighty Stonewall a long time before I actually read Robertson.

 

[ForeverFree]

Haha, so he's the author of 1861: The Civil War Awakening. My school gave it to me because I won a history award. I didn't read it for a while, but picked it up and eventually started reading it. Starts kinda slow, but becomes a complete page-turner. Couldn't put it down, and was genuinely disappointed when it ended. In my top 3 favorite books.

I enjoyed that book as well. The sections on the Wide Awake movement and Elmer Ellsworth were highlights, and the focus on the impact of the war in California put light on a subject that is rarely discussed. The book provides an excellent insight into the feelings and reactions of the diverse non-Southern population to the war.

- Alan

 

[matthew mckeon]

Joseph Harsh in his books on the 1862 Maryland campaign. I liked Foner's "Fiery Trial" too.

 

[Freddy]

Catton, McPherson, Foner, Glatthaarr

 

[Mdiesel]

I love Sears style and Ed Bearrs older works. Rhea is good but Cozzens is a bit too dry for me, although I have read four of his works

Ed Bearss gets my vote, other historians are great but Bearss's work actually saved a Battlefield...

''Ed Bearss was a driving force in designating the park (Monocacy) as a National Landmark in 1972. In only one week he gathered a team of associates and complied a compelling report, along with troop movement maps, powerful enough to convince Congress to provide the resources necessary to protect this endangered battlefield.''
--from intrduction page of the published report.

I own a copy of the Bearss report on Monacacy (there on sale @ the visitor center). Its approx 90 pg. long & reads fairly good. Pretty amazing feat in just a weeks time!