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The Civil War : A Narrative (3 Vol. Set) by Shelby Foote Fort Sumter to Perryville Fredericksburg to Meridian Red River to Appomattox |
This beautifully written trilogy of books on the American Civil War is not only a piece of first-rate history, but also a marvelous work of literature. Shelby Foote brings a skilled novelist's narrative power to this great epic. Many know Foote for his prominent role as a commentator on Ken Burns's PBS series about the Civil War. These three books, however, are his legacy. His southern sympathies are apparent: the first volume opens by introducing Confederate President Jefferson Davis, rather than Abraham Lincoln. But they hardly get in the way of the great story Foote tells. This hefty three volume set should be on the bookshelf of any Civil War buff. |
 The American Heritage New History of the Civil War : by Bruce Catton, James M. McPherson |
Hardcover - 640 pages Book & Cd edition (October 1996) |
 Photographic History of the Civil War by William C. Davis, Vicksburg to Appomattox Fighting for Time The South Besieged The End of an Era |
This picture and reference book provides many of the often searched for pictures that have previously been lost in the Library of Congress |
 Grant Wins the War by James R. Arnold Decision at Vicksburg |
American History Editor's Recommended Book As the Civil War accelerated, Abraham Lincoln recognized that the army holding Vicksburg, a town located at a strategic bend in the Mississippi River, essentially controlled passage on the entire river. In the spring of 1863 General Ulysses S. Grant was given the task of capturing the town, thereby effectively cutting the Confederacy in half. His campaign, while often overlooked by the general public, is considered by some historians to be brilliant. In this highly readable treatment of the Vicksburg campaign, historian James R. Arnold, , makes the case that Grant's adroit military maneuvers were the equal of Napoleonic campaigns. The story of this critical turning point in U.S. history is told in a lively manner, and character studies of men such as Jefferson Davis, Admiral David Farragut, Confederate general John Pemberton, and Grant himself enliven the text. |
 Grant Rises in the West by Kenneth P. Williams From Iuka to Vicksburg, 1862-1863 |
Paperback - 654 pages University of Nebraska June 1997 |
 'The Damned Red Flags of the Rebellion' by Richard Rollins The Confederate Battle Flag at Gettysburg |
This is the first and foremost book on the subject of the Confederate battle flags. Not only does it provide a very detailed look at the flags lost at Gettysburg but, it also gives a true relationship of the men and their flags and what it meant to them. It is a book all people, who look at the Condeferate Flag either as a symbol of hate or one of a heritage long past, should read. It places the flag and the people surrounding it in their proper light. It tells the concise story of how the flag came to be, it military as well as social place in the American Civil War and in this country's heritage. |
 After Appomattox by Stetson Kennedy How the South Won the War |
"A fascinating study of the failure of Reconstruction. . . . This lively and compelling account of the tragedy of Reconstruction is a useful volume which clearly makes its point and deserves to be read by novices as well as those familiar with the subject. Kennedy uses a variety of sources and successfully argues that although the South lost on the battlefield, they won the war during Reconstruction." |
 Battle on the Bay by Edward T. Cotham The Civil War Struggle for Galveston |
First detailed study of a Texas city during the Civil War. At the end of the war, Galveston was the last major port in Confederate hands. Its story is dramatic and one of the great untold stories of the war. A must for anyone interested in the Trans-Mississippi department as well as the serious collector. |
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Antietam : The Soldier's Battle by John Michael Priest, Jay Lavass |
Synopsis :
A historian tells of this bloody Civil War battle from an entirely new point of
view: that of the common enlisted man. Seventy-two detailed maps describe
the battle in both hourly and quarter-hourly formats. 37 rare photos.
As the book runs from anectdote to anectdote, the reader is able to get a clearer picture of the battle and what happened there. As a Civil War Reenactor, my unit fought at Antietam, and the anectdotes helped me to be more realistic in my impression. |
 Days of Defiance by Maury Klein Sumter, Secession, and the Coming of the Civil War |
Military History Editor's Recommended Book Maury Klein's knack for words shows up on the first page of this book: "How could the oldest, deadliest, most divisive conflict of a proud nation come down, after decades of bitter strife, to a dispute over an insignificant fort squatting on a hunk of rock in the harbor of the South's oldest and most defiant city?" Klein, a history professor at the University of Rhode Island, goes on to answer this question in lively prose. The Fort Sumter saga, of course, has been told well by others, but Klein makes the tale worth reading again. |
 The Alabama and the Kearsarge by William Marvel The Sailor's Civil War Civil War America |
 American Realities by J. William T. Youngs, Cecly Moon Historical Episodes : From the First Settlements to the Civil War |
Paperback - 322 pages Addison-Wesley 1996 4th edition |
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Harriet Beecher Stowe by Suzanne M. Coil Impact Books Impact Biographies |
Gr. 7-12. Coil's admiring biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe creates a portrait of the celebrated author as a dutiful daughter; a committed abolitionist; a loving wife devoted to an often brilliant but ineffectual husband. The biography will be a useful addition to any collection, but it will be particularly helpful to students needing information about the years leading up to the Civil War, the work of the abolitionists, and the novel that "moved the world." |
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Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe |
An international bestseller that sold more than 300,000 copies when it first appeared in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin was dismissed by some as abolitionist propaganda; yet Tolstoy deemed it a great work of literature "flowing from love of God and man." Today, however, Harriet Beecher Stowe's stirring indictment of slavery is often confused with garish dramatizations that flourished for decades after the Civil War: productions that relied heavily on melodramatic simplifications of character totally alien to the original. Thus "Uncle Tom" has become a pejorative term for a subservient black, whereas Uncle Tom in the book is a man who, under the most inhumane of circumstances, never loses his human dignity. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is the most powerful and most enduring work of art ever written about American slavery," said Alfred Kazin. |
 The Mutiny at Brandy Station by Frederick B. Arner the Last Battle of the Hooker Brigade A Controversial Army Reorganization Courts Martial And the Bloody Days That Followed |
THE MUTINY AT BRANDY STATION presents, in microcosm, the character and actions of men who served the United States Army of the Potomac in 1864. The story follows key players through the reorganization, the courts martial, and into the Wilderness using direct quotes from their diaries, memoirs, and reports as well as original transcripts of the trials. 78 b&w illustrations. |
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The American Civil War by Steven E. Woodworth A Handbook of Literature and Research |
The most comprehensive bibliography of Civil War books to be published. Woodworth is a history professor at Toccoa Falls College, Georgia, and the author of several books and articles on the war. This massive work has 47 contributors, all distinguished scholars on the period. Some of the well-known contributors are John Marszalek, Mark Grimsley, Mark Neely, and Stephen Wise. The 47 bibliographic essays are divided into 11 subject areas (e.g., "General Secondary Sources," "Illustrative Materials," "International Relations," "Leaders, Strategy and Tactics," "The Home Front"). There is good representation of both social and military issues. Most essays range from 10 to 20 pages in length, including a bibliography at the end of the essay with full bibliographic citations. This book is intended to guide both the neophyte and the experienced Civil War scholar. The essays show trends and changes in historical interpretations and sometimes even mention areas in need of further research. |
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Chesapeake Bay in the Civil War by Eric L. Mills |
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Battle at Ball's Bluff by Kim B. Holien |
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The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare by Edward Hagerman Ideas, Organization, and Field Command |
The American Civil War was a war of transition: a war of romanticism and idealism fought by a large citizen army with the first tools of modern warfare. This book is a must for students of American history and military affairs. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. |
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The Alabama Confederate Reader by Malcolm C. McMillan Library of Alabama Classics |
Paperback - 468 pages University of Alabama Press Reprint edition 1992 |
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American Civil War by Edward F. Dolan A House Divided |
Emphasizing the military battles of the Civil War but not ignoring the political and economic arenas, historian Dolan highlights some often neglected slices of history: the naval war between the Union and the Confederacy; how women fared in the war; and the role of the black soldier. Well-chosen maps, black-and-white illustrations, photos by Mathew Brady, and occasional sidebars supplement the clear and accurate text. |
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Andersonville by William Marvel The Last Depot (Civil War America) |
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The Abc-Clio Companion to American Reconstruction by William L. Richter 1862-1877 Abc-Clio Companions to Key Issues in American History and Life |
Reconstruction has been more misinterpreted than in any other era of American history, and this seeks to remedy the problem through a thorough documentation of the politics, ideas, incidents and power struggles which took place during the era. An alphabetical format containing over 150 entries provides important keys to understanding the era: a "must" for any serious American history collection or course of study at the high school or college levels. |
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Battle at Bull Run by William C. Davis A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War |
This new and revised edition of the original 1977 book offers the reader a splendid narrative of
the first major battle of the American Civil War. On the 21st of July 1861, 60,000 American
soldiers from the North and South met along the banks of Bull Run. In the fighting that followed
the Union forces lost 2,900 out of the 20,000 men engaged while the Confederates lost 2,000 out
of about 17,000 engaged. This book is an enjoyable and easy to read story and is well presented by a number of photographs taken at the time of the battle or shortly after. The author has included 8 small, but easy to read maps that help you follow the outline of events during the battle. This book is recommended to any body who has a love for this period of history or to the general reader who likes a good story. |
| The Abolitionists and the South, 1831-1861 : by Stanley Harrold | Stanley Harrold’s well-written work is an important contribution to antislavery historiography. Taking to task those historians who see antislavery as primarily a movement to reform Northern society, Harrold demonstrates that Northern and Southern abolitionists were active in the South up until the Civil War. Furthermore, Harrold makes a convincing case that the very real abolitionist presence in the Upper South was a "precipitative cause of secession and the Civil War." For Harrold, the Southern response to the abolitionist threat was neither irrational or exaggerated. I commend Harrold’s work to any student of antislavery or the antebellum South. |
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Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad by Marlene Targ Brill |
Recounts how Allen Jay, a young Quaker boy living in Ohio during the 1840s, helped a fleeing slave escape his master and make it to freedom through the Underground Railroad. |
 Above a Common Soldier : by Charles Francis Clarke Darlis A. Miller Frank and Mary Clarke in the American West and Civil War |
First published as TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION in 1941, this rare volume of Civil War-era letters relates the poignant experiences of an English immigrant in the service of the United States Army. After Frank Clarke's tragic death in 1862, his wife Mary corresponded with his English mother, detailing the daily struggles of a military widow and her five sons in frontier Kansas. 12 halftones . |
Don't Know Much About the Civil War : by Kenneth C. Davis Everything You Need to Know About America's Greatest Conflict but Never Learned |
This fresh look at America's greatest conflict will dispel all those misconceptions you acquired by watching "Gone With the Wind". Davis has a genius for bringing history to life, sorting out the players, the politics and the key events -- Harpers Ferry, Shiloh, Gettysburg, Emancipation, Reconstruction -- in a way that will enlighten even the most dedicated back-of-the-class napper. A brilliant crash course, this book vividly brings to life the people -- from Dred Scott to Abraham Lincoln -- and the everyday details that make up History with a capital H. |
 The Battle of Glorieta Pass by Thomas S. Edrington, John Taylor A Gettysburg in the West, March 26-28, 1862 |
Following the third day of the Battle of Glorieta Pass, the Texans found themselves surrounded without provisions. Thomas Edrington and John Taylor combine data from records and documents with their firsthand inspections of the battlefield to reconstruct what happened on both sides of the line before, during, and after this controversial Civil War engagement. 35 photos. 14 maps. |
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1863 : The Crucial Year by C. Carter Smith A Sourcebook on the Civil War (American Albums from the Collections of the Library of Congress) |
Focusing on the Civil War's most critical year, this illustrated history of 1863 begins with the Emancipation Proclamation and details the Union's key victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, which turned the tide against the Confederacy. |
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No Better Place to Die by Peter Cozzens The Battle of Stones River |
Cozzens's chronicle of the Battle of Stones River is a superb, engaging work. His careful work and skillful writing does justice to the memories of the 24,988 men who were injured or killed those cold days in Tennessee. |
 First Manassas Voices of the Civil War |
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Admiral David Dixon Porter by Chester G. Hearn The Civil War Years |
 Admiral David Glasgow Farragut by Chester G. Hearn The Civil War Years |
American Civil War Exhibits
Civil War Timeline
Documents of the Civil War
Civil War Naval Resources
Civil War Summary
