NF Who is the most readable CW historian?

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lupaglupa

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I recently picked up and quickly put down a new history book - the writer seemed to have lots of facts but the writing was so bad I couldn't follow the thread of the narrative. My husband confessed he'd found that same historian, who is very well regarded, a chore to read as well. So I got to thinking - which Civil War historian writes the most readable books? Books that are so well put together that you can't put them down. Histories that flow like a novel. Obviously I don't mean something that isn't factual. But what writers, in your opinion, really tell the story well?
 
For readability, I don't think anyone can top Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote. Some writers have done it better in specific areas, but if you are looking for good writing, you can't miss with them.

Other writers I have found very readable are Timothy Smith, Chester G. Hearn, and William C. Davis.
 
For readability, I don't think anyone can top Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote. Some writers have done it better in specific areas, but if you are looking for good writing, you can't miss with them.

Other writers I have found very readable are Timothy Smith, Chester G. Hearn, and William C. Davis.
I've read several thing by Timothy Smith - most recently the book about Grierson's Raid. I agree he is a very good writer.
 
Shelby Foote...maybe because I can hear his voice in my head...LOL
And as is always mentioned ... Mr. Foote was the first to say that he was never a historian.

But for many people, Shelby Foote is a much more easier to read than many of the distinguished and acclaimed historians that venture away from their academic peer reviews ... and then try to write history for the general public.

I have no doubt these learned individuals try very hard and mean well, but it seems some of them do not understand how to
communicate with their potential customers.
 
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“General Alger once said that he would give $50,000 for a book that would depict war as he saw it. The offer was a safe one, yet doubtless sincere. A truthful or, more properly, an accurate picture of war cannot be given. Fragments of realism are possible, and we are now getting in the regimental histories the nearest approach to descriptions of war as the soldier experienced it that it is possible to have in this age of commercial literature. Writings made to sell are colored to suit the market.” [Evening Mail, Stockton, CA, 12-23-1896.]
 
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