Hannover
Private
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2020
Following the question on which five books would you choose I thought about how a reading interest in the civil war started for me.
I was in my mid-teens and was in the Central Library which is one of the major libraries in the North West of England. At the time it had a very large American Civil War collection. I do not know exactly why but I chose to borrow ‘20th Maine’ by John Pullen. It may have been the photographs in it that caught my attention. Little realising that by chance I had chosen what many historians believe to be one of the best regimental histories ever written. When I got it home and started reading it, I could not put it down and I think I read it in slightly over 24 hours! I returned to the library and in the next year or so read through the whole collection including those that were reference only and so had to be read in the library itself. Sometimes I was thrown out of the library at closing time and ended up walking home, a distance of 3 miles. But I was hooked.
In particular the books I remember include:
G.F.R. Henderson
Fredericksburg Campaign
The Campaign in the Wilderness of Virginia
Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War
F.W. Palfrey
The Antietam and Fredericksburg, Campaigns of the Civil War
Abner Doubleday
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Campaigns of the Civil War
My interest has continued until this day and now includes virtually my own library of over 200 books on the civil war!
So, my question is what got you started? Or put another way what was the first book that sparked your interest?
I was in my mid-teens and was in the Central Library which is one of the major libraries in the North West of England. At the time it had a very large American Civil War collection. I do not know exactly why but I chose to borrow ‘20th Maine’ by John Pullen. It may have been the photographs in it that caught my attention. Little realising that by chance I had chosen what many historians believe to be one of the best regimental histories ever written. When I got it home and started reading it, I could not put it down and I think I read it in slightly over 24 hours! I returned to the library and in the next year or so read through the whole collection including those that were reference only and so had to be read in the library itself. Sometimes I was thrown out of the library at closing time and ended up walking home, a distance of 3 miles. But I was hooked.
In particular the books I remember include:
G.F.R. Henderson
Fredericksburg Campaign
The Campaign in the Wilderness of Virginia
Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War
F.W. Palfrey
The Antietam and Fredericksburg, Campaigns of the Civil War
Abner Doubleday
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Campaigns of the Civil War
My interest has continued until this day and now includes virtually my own library of over 200 books on the civil war!
So, my question is what got you started? Or put another way what was the first book that sparked your interest?