This may have come up in the past but I cannot find a similar thread via the Search, so I'll start one here.
So, Who is your favorite Civil War Author?
Why?
I'll start this one off. Though there are literally thousands of people to choose from, I'm going to go with Joseph Harsh, author of Confederate Tide Rising: Robert E. Lee and the Making of Southern Strategy, 1861-1862, Taken at the Flood: Robert E. Lee and Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862, and Sounding the Shallows: A Confederate Companion for the Maryland Campaign of 1862. Harsh refuses to use hindsight in describing the operations of Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia from the seven Days through the end of the Maryland Campaign. Instead, he looks at what Robert E. Lee knew at a given moment and then presents alternatives Lee could have chosen. It makes for a very "you are there" feel. In addition, Harsh is EXTREMELY detailed. Sounding the Shallows is essentially a massive Confederate-focused appendix to Taken at the Flood. I hope he feels well enough to eventually complete a "Northern companion" to the campaign as well at some point.
After Harsh, some of my other favorites are, in no particular order:
-Peter Cozzens
-Gordon Rhea
-Shelby Foote
-A. Wilson Greene
-Eric Wittenberg
Who are yours?