What Books Got You Interested In The Civil War?

Hannover

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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?
 
Did anyone read and/or cut out and collect the colored comic series "Old Glory at the Crossroads" that ran in the Sunday comics from 1961 to June 1965? The series actually began in January 1953 as "Story of Old Glory" and was a great help in understanding American History as a kid.
View attachment 408255
Back during the Civil War Centennial there was a similar daily comic strip that began running in late 1960 or early 1961 in the now-long-defunct Dallas Times Herald with similar artwork but a different title I remember as being Under the Stars And Bars. (At that time the subject was the run-up to Fort Sumter and so it was mostly political and admittedly kind of boring.) Unfortunately after a short run of only a few months it was pulled, supposedly due to poor reader response. (Nobody asked me for MY opinion!) That wasn't the end of it nationally, however, because I subsequently saw in in another paper while we were on vacation somewhere.
 
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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?
For me, it was a combination of different media. There were three books The Civil War by Bruce Catton, The Killer Angels, and Bold Dragoon: The Life of Jeb Stuart by Emory Thomas. The movie Gettysburg was important as well. Finally, A&E's The Civil War Journal which I watched on the History Channel every morning before school.
 
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For me, it was a combination of different media. There were three books The Civil War by Bruce Catton, The Killer Angels, and Bold Dragoon: The Life of Jeb Stuart by Emory Thomas. The movie Gettysburg was important as well. Finally, A&E's The Civil War Journal which I watched on the History Channel every morning before school.
I like your bobblehead - welcome to the forums!
 
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Back during the Civil War Centennial there was a similar daily comic strip that began running in late 1960 or early 1961 in the now-long-defunct Dallas Times Herald with similar artwork but a different title I remember as being Under the Stars And Bars. (At that time the subject was the run-up to Fort Sumter and so it was mostly political and admittedly kind of boring.) Unfortunately after a short run of only a few months it was pulled, supposedly due to poor reader response. (Nobody asked me for MY opinion!) That wasn't the end of it nationally, however, because I subsequently saw in in another paper while we were on vacation somewhere.
For me, it was a combination of different media. There were three books The Civil War by Bruce Catton, The Killer Angels, and Bold Dragoon: The Life of Jeb Stuart by Emory Thomas. The movie Gettysburg was important as well. Finally, A&E's The Civil War Journal which I watched on the History Channel every morning before school.
Almost forgot this book:
20210717_165715.jpg
 
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