Good books on the cival war

civilwarbuff1987 · Corporal Joined: 01 Mar 2008 Posts: 2

I recommend These Honored Dead: The History of the Civil War. It can be ordered off of amazon.com. This book is short, but very informative and an all around good read.

Leon · Sergeant Joined: 12 Apr 2008 Posts: 14 Location: London

McPherson's 'Battle Cry of Freedom' is a great book. Memoirs are a good way of understanding the lives of soldiers and generals. I would recommend Sam R Watkins' 'Co. Aytch' and U.S Grant's 'Memoirs'.

the.past.fate · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:05 am Post subject:

they fought like demons and confederates in the attic

Nav931 · Sergeant Joined: 19 Jul 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Virginia

New to this site also. I just finished ready In Lincoln Navy. Very good book if you are into how the sailor was during the Civil War. Looking for another book about services in the Army but can not remember the name of the book. If anyone knows what book I am talking about let me know.

Indianscout2k1 · Corporal Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 6

I just finished the National Geographic book "Eyewitness to the Civil War" and I most say I loved every page of it. I took me awhile to get through it but now I feel sad it's over. The pictures and info was great and exicitng. Does anyone know of other books that are equal to the quality of this on?

callum98 · Sergeant Joined: 06 Aug 2008 Posts: 15

I would recomend jesse james last rebel of the civil war by tj styles.
I have read a lot of the book and it tells of jesse's child hood and the potical veiws.ALSO it includes jesse and frank's bushwhacker tales.AND also of jesse and franks robberies i think it is availible on amazon.com

JLongstreetFan · Corporal Joined: 09 Aug 2008 Posts: 3

I have a couple of suggestions;

_From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America_ by General James Longstreet.

Of course, Shelby Foote can't be beat. The man is a wealth of information.

For Civil War novels, I would recommend Michael Shaara's _The Killer Angels_, the book on which the movie "Gettysburg" was based.

Just my opinion.

Indianscout2k1 · Corporal Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 6

I am reading the Killer Angels right now, I found it on the clearance rack at my local Borders bookstore, along with: Civil War A Complete Photographic History. I think I paid $8 for The Killer Angels, and $20 for the one with 4000 photos. If anyone has a Borders Bookstore close by you might want to check for both of those books.

Gooeyswat · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject:

A really good Civil War book is The Killer Angels, By Michael Sharra. It tells alot about gettysburg and is a great read. It shows the different opinions of the generals on the southern side during the battle.

RARose · Corporal Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Minnesota

I found that besides Foote and Cattons books, the companion books to Burn's The Civil War and the God's and Generals Movie were very good, as well as Nevin's series of books on the social and political aspect of the time.

Sammy · Corporal Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 4

You've already read some pretty good books. My favorite authors are Bruce Catton, Shelby Foote, William C. Davis, James McPherson and David Herbert Donald. You would find almost anything written by those authors very interesting and informative.

One book I thoroughly enjoyed is "With My Face to the Enemy: Perspectives on the Civil War." It contains essays on various parts of the war, written by well known and respected authors.

If you're interested in U.S. Grant, the biography Jean Edward Smith, simply titled "Grant" is one of the best I've read.

Recently my son sent me "House of Abraham," by Stephen Berry. It's more about the Todd's than about Lincoln, but quite interesting and very well written.

"Team of Rivals," is very popular right now. I've had it on my shelves for two years, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet...I'm way behind on my reading.

"Lee's Cavalrymen," is another good book. The author is Edward Longacre.

If you can stand to sit and read from your computer screen, try the Gutenberg web site. They have quite a few C.W. books for download, mostly written by people who were there.

Sammy