Posted on 11/23/2016 6:01:04 PM PST by Loud Mime
I am studying our Civil War; anybody have any recommendations for reading?
Earl Hess Pickett’s Last Charge
A Diary From Dixie by Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, 1823-1886
April 1865: The Month That Saved America by Jay Winik
The Reconstruction Era is equally important. How in the world do you put the nation back together after that cataclysm? I highly recommend “Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877” by Eric Foner.
All...don’t forget to add keyword “FreeperBookClub” on all book threads. Makes it easy to find by clicking on that keyword at the top of the main page. Lots of excellent book threads disappear without that keyword.
I added it to this thread.
Two unusual but unique Civil war books are “Come Retribution” and “April 65” both books on the Confederate Secret Service and its possible role in the Lincoln assassination. One of the things that was really interesting was how innovative the CSA Secret Service was compared to its Northern counterpart.
Excellent recommendation. GWTW is an excellent book — enjoyed it very much.
The actual war? Or anything relating to it?
“The Real Lincoln”, by my own local author, Tom DiLorenzo.
Looks interesting. Is it something one can read or is it pages upon pages of statistics?
Exactly.
And if you want to get away from the depression of our “civil war”, start studying the Founding and the Revolution. It is truly a miracle and much more uplifting.
“Guns Of the South”. :-)
The South lost 70% of its net worth (as human capital) the day that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. A pen was mightier than the sword. Ink did more damage than lead bullets.
The Missouri and Kansas conflicts of the 1850s are important to include, but I don’t know a good book on the topic. It certainly is important when studying the run-up to the War, considering that ‘Potawatomi Brown’, John Brown, began his murderous career there.
Another forgotten precursor was the ‘Mormon War’ or ‘Utah War’ during Buchanan’s term- Buchanan sent the Army to put down a rebellion in Utah, but it became a moot issue when the Mormons decided to accept the Territorial Governor as the legitimate authority. And while this was going on South Carolina seceded and drove off a Ft Sumter resupply ship with cannon fire- Buchanan thought that secession was illegal, but didn’t believe that he had the authority to suppress a State’s action by force, unlike what he had done in the Utah Territory.
“It was a history about the Monitor and the Merrimack”
I would hope that it was a history of the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia...
General Richard Taylor’s ‘Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War’ is a very good memoir of the war in the west.
“The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.”
Along with:
“Gods and Generals”, and “Last Full Measure”, by Jeff Shaara
“William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life”, by James Lee McDonough
“Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson”, by S.C Gwynne
I found Grant’s memoirs to be a very good read that offered a different perspective on the campaigns conducted by Grant and his subordinates. It is available as a free ebook at the Gutenberg Project, Gutenberg.org.
The NappyOne
“...the idea that 9 out of 10 people would be *happier* as slaves...”
We see that today in most inner-city environments.
It’s the government welfare plantation, but a plantation all the same.
Anything by Bruce Catton.
If you want to be technically correct, it was not a civil war at all. A civil war is one between two parties attempting to gain control over one entity not one in which one party forces the other to not assert its independence.
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