Summer Reading

[Ohio88th1]

Ok all you Gettysburg scholars - I'm planning to read Gettysburg campaign histories this summer as a refresher. I have these books but have not read them in some time. I plan on reading the books in order of publication. This is the plan:

1) They Met At Gettysburg - Stackpole (1956)
2) High Tide At Gettysburg - Tucker (1958)
3) The Gettysburg Campaign - Coddington (1968)
4) Gettysburg - A Testing of Courage - Trudeau (2002)
5) Gettysburg - Sears (2003)

I know there will be a lot of redundancy but each author has a different take and will add details, etc. that the others do not. I have Guelzo's - Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (2013), but as I recall was not impressed with his writing and some of his conclusions regarding the campaign. I may try it again if I can be convinced it's worth my while.

Thoughts? Additions I'm missing?

I do plan on reading the micro-histories (Pfanz, Martin, Shue, Wittenburg, Thompson, Longacre, Christ, Hessler, LaFantasie, Brown, Stuart, Coco, etc.) as we get into the fall and winter and into next year. I would then eventually like to read the 'first hand' accounts of participants/regiments/witnesses (Dawes, Brown, Doubleday, Wainwright, Pierce, Oates, Beecham, Gibbon, Chamberlain?, and some of the regimental histories)

Thanks for your input

 

[Stryker65]

I'd also recommend, for the micro-histories, Jeffry D. Wert's "Third Day of Gettysburg" book for a look into the Third Day, specifically.

 

[James Brenner]

You can't go wrong with any of Carol Reardon's books. She was one of our instructors at the War College.

 

[Library Lady]

If Carol Reardon's Pickett's Charge in History and Memory is something you think you'd be interested in, then I would recommend Thomas A. Desjardin's These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory.

 

[bankerpapaw]

Ok all you Gettysburg scholars - I'm planning to read Gettysburg campaign histories this summer as a refresher. I have these books but have not read them in some time. I plan on reading the books in order of publication. This is the plan:

1) They Met At Gettysburg - Stackpole (1956)
2) High Tide At Gettysburg - Tucker (1958)
3) The Gettysburg Campaign - Coddington (1968)
4) Gettysburg - A Testing of Courage - Trudeau (2002)
5) Gettysburg - Sears (2003)

I know there will be a lot of redundancy but each author has a different take and will add details, etc. that the others do not. I have Guelzo's - Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (2013), but as I recall was not impressed with his writing and some of his conclusions regarding the campaign. I may try it again if I can be convinced it's worth my while.

Thoughts? Additions I'm missing?

I do plan on reading the micro-histories (Pfanz, Martin, Shue, Wittenburg, Thompson, Longacre, Christ, Hessler, LaFantasie, Brown, Stuart, Coco, etc.) as we get into the fall and winter and into next year. I would then eventually like to read the 'first hand' accounts of participants/regiments/witnesses (Dawes, Brown, Doubleday, Wainwright, Pierce, Oates, Beecham, Gibbon, Chamberlain?, and some of the regimental histories)

Thanks for your input

I've read #4 numerous times!!

 

[FZ11]

Ok all you Gettysburg scholars - I'm planning to read Gettysburg campaign histories this summer as a refresher. I have these books but have not read them in some time. I plan on reading the books in order of publication. This is the plan:

1) They Met At Gettysburg - Stackpole (1956)
2) High Tide At Gettysburg - Tucker (1958)
3) The Gettysburg Campaign - Coddington (1968)
4) Gettysburg - A Testing of Courage - Trudeau (2002)
5) Gettysburg - Sears (2003)

I know there will be a lot of redundancy but each author has a different take and will add details, etc. that the others do not. I have Guelzo's - Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (2013), but as I recall was not impressed with his writing and some of his conclusions regarding the campaign. I may try it again if I can be convinced it's worth my while.

Thoughts? Additions I'm missing?

I do plan on reading the micro-histories (Pfanz, Martin, Shue, Wittenburg, Thompson, Longacre, Christ, Hessler, LaFantasie, Brown, Stuart, Coco, etc.) as we get into the fall and winter and into next year. I would then eventually like to read the 'first hand' accounts of participants/regiments/witnesses (Dawes, Brown, Doubleday, Wainwright, Pierce, Oates, Beecham, Gibbon, Chamberlain?, and some of the regimental histories)

Thanks for your input

Numbers 3,4 and, 5 are the best. Agree with you re Guelzo.

 

[rob63]

The Attack and Defense of Little Round Top by Norton is well worth reading and can be found online, or in print cheap

I take issue with some of the things he says, but it is a very enjoyable read simply because he pulled together the relevant O.R's and other first hand accounts and arranged them in a logical fashion. It left me wishing that was done more often.

 

[dlavin]

Good on you for staying strong with just Gettysburg. I couldn't do all those books in a row. Would get stale for me. I've read Sears and Trudeau. Liked Trudeau slightly more. I started Coddington and should get back to it, but I'm reading the "Battlecry" of Revolutionary war at the moment,. Though I guess it's not really because it's two volumes.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

I hope you will enjoy this, and share observations about the historiography, the kind you can only get from back to back reading like this.

 

[Scott Brown]

Ok all you Gettysburg scholars - I'm planning to read Gettysburg campaign histories this summer as a refresher. I have these books but have not read them in some time. I plan on reading the books in order of publication. This is the plan:

1) They Met At Gettysburg - Stackpole (1956)
2) High Tide At Gettysburg - Tucker (1958)
3) The Gettysburg Campaign - Coddington (1968)
4) Gettysburg - A Testing of Courage - Trudeau (2002)
5) Gettysburg - Sears (2003)

I know there will be a lot of redundancy but each author has a different take and will add details, etc. that the others do not. I have Guelzo's - Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (2013), but as I recall was not impressed with his writing and some of his conclusions regarding the campaign. I may try it again if I can be convinced it's worth my while.

Thoughts? Additions I'm missing?

I do plan on reading the micro-histories (Pfanz, Martin, Shue, Wittenburg, Thompson, Longacre, Christ, Hessler, LaFantasie, Brown, Stuart, Coco, etc.) as we get into the fall and winter and into next year. I would then eventually like to read the 'first hand' accounts of participants/regiments/witnesses (Dawes, Brown, Doubleday, Wainwright, Pierce, Oates, Beecham, Gibbon, Chamberlain?, and some of the regimental histories)

Thanks for your input

All of that in one summer??

 

[Scott Brown]

Joking aside, if all of those are in your library, you need to be reading the OR's.

 

[Stryker65]

Joking aside, if all of those are in your library, you need to be reading the OR's.

And while it may sound very boring, it's quite fun. I read V49 just last week!

 

[rpkennedy]

And while it may sound very boring, it's quite fun. I read V49 just last week!

Some of the back and forth correspondence is really interesting.

Ryan

 

[Scott Brown]

As an aside, a lot of folks think Stackpole is outdated, but he really got a lot of stuff right! Ditto for Tucker (and ditto for Reynolds biographer Edward Nichols, who isn't mentioned in the original post).

 

[Ohio88th1]

From what I remember that's true Scott. I do have the Gettysburg ORs but use them mainly for reference. I think the OR correspondence between Halleck and Pope after 2nd Mannassas is very interesting. Pope wanted Porter's head on a plate and someone other than himself to blame for the disaster! Anyway thanks for the input everyone and I hope we can keep this going. It's great to hear what people enjoy reading about Gettysburg.

 

[MRB1863]

Have and have read the titles you listed. I would add the three day series by Pfanz.

 

[Ohio88th1]

Have and have read the titles you listed. I would add the three day series by Pfanz.

Definitely will. I have them but consider them micro-histories so will read them again after the books in the complete campaign.