NF You could only choose five books

Non-Fiction
1. The Life of Johnny Reb ( and/or Billy Yank ) by Bell A. Wiley
2. Gettysburg the First Day by Harry Pfanz
3. Gettysburg the Second Day " "
4. Plenty of Blame to Go Around by Eric Wittenberg
5. Embrace an Angry Wind, the Confederacy's Last Hurrah by Wiley Sword
 
Let me deliberately NOT answer your question. You ask for 5 books to read. Instead let me suggest 5 topics.

1--Gettysburg
2--Antietam
3--Shiloh
4--Grant or Lee
5--Lincoln

I really believe that it would be hard for you to go wrong picking up ANY one of the many books on any of the topics. And of course after reading this abbreviated list you would be naturally lead to a plethora of books to follow up on the first 5.
 
I'm taking the mickey here with these choices but ... 😉

I think a lot depends on what your specific interest in the Civil War is. Mine comes from the perspective of the Infantryman, the ordinary soldier of both sides. If you're into the Generals, the Politicians and the movers and shakers, then you'd have an entirely different perspective. Cavalry, Artillery, Railroads, Naval interests also. I've cheated by having the lot superficially covered with my first choice.

The Time-Life Series on The Civil War - covers every subject with a decent overview plus great images.
The Time-Life Series 'Echoes of Glory' - Uniforms, Equipment, Pen-pictures and an excellent Atlas.
Catton's Army of the Potomac 3 book series. Just soooo good on the motivations and thoughts of the Eastern Union Infantryman.
'Si Klegg and His Pard' by Wilbur Hinman - Fiction of course, but tells you everything you need to know about the mindset of the ordinary mid-westerner.
'The Orphan Brigade - The Kentucky Confederates who couldn't go home' by William C. Davis. Difficult to choose one Confed book, but absolutely nails the Confederate mindset, the tragedy of being in an Army led by Braxton Bragg and the great spirit of soldiers fighting a lost cause.
 
Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson
Gettysburg A Study in Command by Coddington
Return to Bull Run by Hennessy
A Campaign of Giants by A Wilson Greene (the entire set once done)
Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend by James Roberston
 
OK; I favor books that are readable; by that I mean those that don't bog you down with too many stats, troop movements, etc. They tend to be dry reading and at my age I quickly lose interest them. So, for reading enjoyment, here are 5 of my favorites:

1. The Civil War, a Narrative; Three volumes by Shelby Foote. It took Foote years to complete these volumes, as he wrote them entirely by hand. His love of the subject shows through in his writing.

2. The Army of The Potomac (3 volumes: Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road and A Stillness at Appomattox). My first contact (from long, long ago) with the Civil War.

3. Gettysburg: The Long Encampment. Written by Jack McLaughlin; well illustrated and with a smooth writing style. McLaughlin provides some good info on the Reunions that took place at Gettysburg as well as a moving narrative of the events of July 1-3, 1863.

4. Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May-June 1864. Authored by Noah Andre Trudeau; excellent work on the beginning of the 1864 Overland Campaign.

5. Pickett's Charge. Author George R. Stewart does an excellent job of describing what it was like at Gettysburg on July 3, from early morning until the end of the day, and the Confederate's hopes of winning the war.

There are several others I could recommend; these 5 are very readable and informative and will hopefully spark a growing interest in a subject near to all of us............ The Civil War. Happy reading !
 
I need a good "picture book" like either Fletcher Pratt's Civil War in Pictures or Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War. So for #3 I'd probably go with Pratt's book because the other, though interesting and full of information, contains small print that these old eyes just can't handle.
Pratt’s book was the most influential book for me! My mother purchased it for me in the mid to late 50s, when I was about 6 or 7. Still have the copy at home and my oldest daughter bought me a second copy that I keep at my office.
 
If you have not read Foote's account of the Civil War, I urge you to do that first. Once you read the words on the page, you will understand why. The other books will follow along naturally. I am an avid reader with hundreds of books. The Civil War time period are among some of my favorite reads.
 
1. The Slave Trade: the story of the Atlantic slave trade, Hugh Thomas. .
2. Autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant. He actually lived through the entire thing.
3. David H. Bain, Empire Express, the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.
4. William Freehling, The South vs the South, how anti Confederate southerners shaped the Civil War.
5. Foote's final volume: which might well have been called the tragedy's final scenes.

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If you could only choose five books on the history of the Civil War, which would you choose?

I'm looking for reading ideas, open to all subjects. But generally looking for what people think are the five best, in their opinion.
Lee’s Lieutenants by Douglas Shouthall Freeman has to be on the list
 
1. The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (a most profound insight on why a profoundly Christian nation failed to avoid war)
2. Battle Cry of Freedom (best general overview)
3. Footes 3 Volume Series (for total history from 1861 to 1865)
4. West Point History of The Civil War ( timeline, maps and battles}
5. Republic of Suffering (social and cultural impact on the entire population)
 
1. Reflections on the Civil War by Bruce Catton. One of the genuine masters of CW history puts aside the ORs, regimental hisories etc. and just "reflects" on the "big picture" based on the wisdom gained from a lifetime of study. Absolutely Fantastic.
The rest in no particular order.
2. I rode with Stonewall
3. Iron Afloat
4. Bearss' Vicksburg trilogy
5. Lee's Lieutenants
 
Have agonised over this from first reading. I love the 'Desert Island' nature of the question. I have settled on 3 choices so far:
1. Stonewall Jackson by James Robertson - masterful biography, superb insight, movingly written.
2. Taken at the Flood by Joseph Harsh - ground breaking and demonstrated the way all campaign histories should be written. The first author to acknowledge that McClellan did a pretty good job.
3. The Maryland Campaign of September 1862: Ezra A. Carman’s Definitive Study of the Union and Confederate Armies at Antietam
by Joseph Pierro - brilliant job of putting Ezra Carmen's manuscript into a readable and thoroughly enjoyable form.

I am not too keen side stepping the question by including multivolume works as one. Where do you end? Battles and Leaders volume 1 to 6? Rhea's 'Overland campaign' - 5 volumes? Pfanz's Gettysburg trilogy? David Powell's Chickamauga Campaign - 3 volumes! Surely the question would be if you were limited to only 5 books which ones would you choose? Which volume of Shelby Foote's would you choose because then you have to state which one and why that particular volume?
For example I think I will end up choosing two from:
(a) Rhea's (possibly Cold Harbor - for him making sense of the carnage).
(b) Pfanz's (possibly The Second Day - because this is the most important out of the three).
(c) Decision in the West by Albert Castel - just brilliant and beautifully written.
(d) This Terrible Sound by Peter Cozzens - made an unfathomable battle readable!
(e) Early Photography at Gettysburg by William Frassanito - for doing something no one else had looked at until then!
This is not disrespecting some of the fine authors we have today - Eric Wittenberg, Earl J. Hess, Timothy B. Smith, James Hessler, John Priest, Noah Trudeau, Garry Adelman and numerous others.....

Perhaps that Desert Island does not look so good after all :smile: Brilliant question though...
 
As a side note, I really liked reading thomas budd van Horne's history of the army of the Cumberland. And his bio of George Thomas is a good read
 
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