Finished Pfanz’s First Day book and can’t speak highly enough of it - it’s thorough and academic but in no way at the expense of readability. That’s perhaps the highest compliment that I can give a book of this nature. He does a masterful job of combining “big picture” military details with the personal anecdotes that make it all human. I also had my copy of Phil Laino’s Gettysburg Campaign Atlas nearby whole reading which was helpful - although, I will say, that the few maps in Pfanz’s book are actually quite good too.
On a personal note, I’m glad that I recently visited Gettysburg before reading this because it made me much more familiar with a lot of the descriptions and able to visualize a lot of what was being described, or even look back at pictures I had taken.
Not sure what I’ll go to next…am considering just moving right into Pfanz’s Second Day book. I also have a pile of other CW (non-Gettysburg) waiting to be read. And, for some reason, have really been interested in World War I lately so I might veer in that direction for a bit.