AGEOD Forums

just picked up and am almost done with Mcpherson's new book"War on the water Union and confederate navies 1861-1865"
very good read as should be expected from Mcpherson.

John Keegan's The American Civil War is pretty good. For a more tactical analysis, read The West Point Atlas of War: The American Civil War.

all of stephen sear's books are outstanding as are winston groom's 2 books Vicksburg and Shiloh[he also wrote Forrest Gump by the way]

Gen. Monkey-Bear wrote:John Keegan's The American Civil War is pretty good.

I read this book the last summer and I really enjoyed it. Now, I hope to have more free time to start with Gore Vidal's Lincoln.

John Denison Champlin - Young Folk's History of the War for the Union - 1881

I'm trying McPherson's much lauded Battle Cry of Freedom but I'm finding it a bit hard going.

Maybe I'm reverting to childhood and can't cope with long words and books without many pictures. As Alice in Wonderland said, "What's the point of a book without pictures?"

Maybe I'm reverting to childhood and can't cope with long words and books without many pictures. As Alice in Wonderland said, "What's the point of a book without pictures?"

Well it depends on what you want. If you want a study of the more political/social aspects of the war then I think you will find lots of bad ones with too much jargon before you find any good ones. But when you do find one, it will probably be extremely great. The reason for this is because most of these viewpoints are open to interpretation - why the war started, for example, or what effects it had on the later civil rights movements.

If you want a more conflict/war centered book then these are much easier to find and almost any one works in my opinion. Facts about battles are less disputable than a dicussion about the political effects of the war. John Keegan's book (previously mentioned) covers both and is a good starting point before you read books about specific aspects of the war. Of course, it is also pretty well written.

I'm going to sneak something in here that's not reading, if you are interested in the social/political aspects of the civil war, before, during and after up to the present I can strongly suggest The Civil War and Reconstruction with David Blight, the recording of HST-119 of Yale University. Blight blows some pretty basic facts about battles, but his focus is by far the social and political affects of the war and not the military. He constantly mentions books as sources and reads from many, bring you very close to the people living through those events, which is his goal. If you like Shelby Foote's The Civil War - A Narrative, you will probably like this.