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The Civil War is the most written about event in United States history. There are an extraordinary number of books covering all aspects of the war from large overviews like James McPherson's <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019516895X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=019516895X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=e33f3bb02b609b5b80ce0c3755444af0 Battle Cry Freedom]</i>, Gary Gallagher's books on <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674066081/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0674066081&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=de7ad6c37a2cdfff0cc474c341f422c9 The Union War]</i> and <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674160568/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0674160568&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=781edeb3e16fe4ea8cd7f34e566f954c The Confederate War]</i>, Allan Nevins 8 volume set on the conflict, and Shelby Foote's [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394749138/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0394749138&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=34c399c569f5af2adb9dba9a17652804 three volume set of books] on the war. Like a lot of people, I started with Shelby Foote's books, but over the years I have drifted towards more academic works. Unsurprisingly, all kinds of different authors have written non-fiction books on the topic. Some of these authors are academic historians such as James McPherson and Gary Gallagher, more literary authors such as Winston Groom (author of fiction works such as Forest Gump and Civil War nonfiction works Shiloh, 1862 and Vicksburg, 1863) and Shelby Foote, and an extraordinary number of independent scholars. I would not be surprised to learn that there are more self-published books on the American Civil War than any other American historical topic.
Here is our list.
[[File:Landscape_Turned_RedCrossroads_of_Freedom.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|left|<i>Landscape Turned RedCrossroads of Freedom: The Battle of Antietam</i>]]
<i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618344195/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0618344195&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=edb1d6a640423279a1d72001664a0a91 Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam]</i>, (Mariner Books) Stephen W. Sears - Stephen Sears'<i>Landscape Turned Red</i> is considered to be the preeminent book on the Battle of Antietam. When it was published in 1983, Sears book received near universal acclaim and it still holds up extremely well. Sears book not only walks the reader through the battle, but clearly explains why the stakes were so high for both sides of this battle.
<i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807872695/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807872695&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=e75411434194a906c349e1f16ab03074 Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!]</i>, (UNC Press) George Rable - Rable's book is the classic book on the Battle of Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg was a disastrous defeat for the Union army and his books not only looks at the military aspects of the conflict, but also the social and political aspects that influenced and shaped the battle. This is the best book to start with if you want learn about Fredericksburg.
[[File:Landscape_Turned_Red.jpg|thumbnail|200px|left|<i>Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam</i>]]
<i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1469625334/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1469625334&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=5cbd7fb2ebb6d725d9af14b1b262f59af Cold Harbor to the Crater: The End of the Overland Campaign]</i>, (UNC Press) Edited by Caroline Jenner & Gary Gallagher - Jenner and Gallagher's book is one in a series the excellent Military Campaigns of the Civil War series of books published by the University of North Carolina Press. Other books in the series examine the Fredericksburg, Shenandoah Valley and Wilderness campaigns. Like other books in this series it includes essays from noted Civil War and 19th Century historians including Joan Waugh, Stephen Cushman, Keith Kathryn Shively Meier, Gordon Rhea. Instead of simply describing the campaign, these essays delve deeply into a diverse array of topic including the work of Confederate engineers, enduring the life of a soldier, the resilience of Confederate soldiers after Gettysburg, and the experiences of civilians caught in the battle for Petersburg for over a year.
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[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807128031/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807128031&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=e3bedc1d34a4ab0394b1409242343e9c Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864], (LSU Press) Gordon Rhea The Overland Series - Unlike Gallagher's and Jenner's more expansive book of essays, Rhea's book focuses on the battle for Cold Harbor. Despite the disproportionate losses by the Union, the Battle of Cold Harbor was a stalemate. Rhea goes into extraordinary detail about the battle and tries to demystify why the so many Union troops were killed. Cold Harbor is part of Rhea's Overland Campaign series published by LSU Press. The series also includes <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807118737/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807118737&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=1a7a074dfdfd20472c7b5bc65ad4ee79 The Battle of the Wilderness]</i>, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807121363/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807121363&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=0dd2d7241d92d21a95949197fe89c647 The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern]</i>, and <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807125350/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807125350&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=14623c18b0d4a0619a022701fd1080d9 To the North Anna River]</i>. Rhea's book on the <i>Battle of the Wilderness</i> is also considered to be the classic book on this battle.
<b>The Battle of Gettysburg</b> - It is impossible to pick just one book on the Battle of Gettysburg. While there has been a longstanding debate over which battle was more important during the war - Antietam or Gettysburg, Gettysburg has become part of the American consciousness. Not only did it end the Confederacy's advance into the North, it gave birth to the most famous speech in American history. Each of these books attempts to answer different questions about Gettysburg.
Harry Pfanz book <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807847305/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807847305&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=99ab2cbaf9236d0f568e9341bdfd8aec Gettysburg: The Second Day]</i>(UNC Press) focuses solely on the second day of the battle, while Stephen Sears takes a much more expansive look at the entire in battle <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618485384/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0618485384&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=d3659b96be7588346745720a4e005e02 Gettysburg](Mariner Books). Carol Reardon's book [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807854611/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807854611&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=5a78632122521fd5b8ff8e9046e163dc Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory] (UNC Press) takes an entirely different approach by focusing on perhaps the most important charge in United States history. She explains why Pickett's Charge has been elevated to the status of an American myth and attempts to put the charge back into its proper historical place. [[File:The_Civil_War_at_Sea.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|<i>The Civil War at Sea</i>]]Finally, Mark Grimsley and Brooks D. Simpson's <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0803270771/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0803270771&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=13f92ebb8229f28b42f9fa539ae62a3a Gettysburg: A Battle Guide]</i> (Bison Mariner Books) is the battle guide on Gettysburg. The authors help the reader make sense of confusing and complicated battlefield better than any other book. This book essential if you plan on visiting [https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm The Gettysburg National Military Park]. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199931682/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199931682&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=77557c16fc84e192ad77dc4d567da088 The Civil War at Sea], (Oxford University Press) Craig Symonds - While not technically a Civil War battle book, <i>The Civil War at Sea</i> demonstrates how important the Union naval campaigns were to their victory. The book is broken up into sections covering the Union blockade of Confederate ports, the sieges of Charleston and Wilmington and the role of privateers during the war. Symonds does a fantastic job bringing a neglected aspect of the Civil War to the forefront. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081313384X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=081313384X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=ca763a4ee1a73f7e49475b2ab601d0e9 Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle], (University of Kentucky Press) Kenneth W. Noe (University of Kentucky Press)- The Battle of Perryville represents the high water point of the Confederacy's western campaign. Perryville was a Confederate victory, but it failed to achieve the South's strategic goal; bring Kentucky into the Confederate fold. Noe not only gives a detailed description of the battle, but he also describes the lives of the soldiers both during the western campaign and after the war.[[Category:Booklists]] [[Category:United States History]] [[Category:Civil War]][[Category:History Booklists]][[Category:African American History]] [[Category:Expert Booklists]] <div class="portal" style="'float:right; width:8535%;"'>====Related DailyHistory.org Articles====
*[[American Civil War Biographies Top Ten Booklist]]
*[[What Were the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of "Stonewall" Jackson?]]
*[[Was the Destruction Perpetrated by Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman Necessary to End the Civil War?]]
*[[The Best Historians and Books According to James McPherson]]
</div>Carol Reardon's book <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807854611/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807854611&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=5a78632122521fd5b8ff8e9046e163dc Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory]</i> (UNC Press) takes an entirely different approach by focusing on perhaps the most important charge in United States history. She explains why Pickett's Charge has been elevated to the status of an American myth and attempts to put the charge back into its proper historical place. [[File:The_Civil_War_at_Sea.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|<i>The Civil War at Sea</i>]]Finally, Mark Grimsley and Brooks D. Simpson's <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0803270771/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0803270771&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=13f92ebb8229f28b42f9fa539ae62a3a Gettysburg: A Battle Guide]</i> (Bison Books) is the battle guide on Gettysburg. The authors help the reader make sense of confusing and complicated battlefield better than any other book. This book essential if you plan on visiting [https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm The Gettysburg National Military Park]. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199931682/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199931682&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=77557c16fc84e192ad77dc4d567da088 The Civil War at Sea]</i>, (Oxford University Press) Craig Symonds - While not technically a Civil War battle book, <i>The Civil War at Sea</i> demonstrates how important the Union naval campaigns were to their victory. The book is broken up into sections covering the Union blockade of Confederate ports, the sieges of Charleston and Wilmington and the role of privateers during the war. Symonds does a fantastic job bringing a neglected aspect of the Civil War to the forefront. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081313384X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=081313384X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=ca763a4ee1a73f7e49475b2ab601d0e9 Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle]</i>, (University of Kentucky Press) Kenneth W. Noe (University of Kentucky Press)- The Battle of Perryville represents the high water point of the Confederacy's western campaign. Perryville was a Confederate victory, but it failed to achieve the South's strategic goal; bring Kentucky into the Confederate fold. Noe not only gives a detailed description of the battle, but he also describes the lives of the soldiers both during the western campaign and after the war.[[Category:Booklists]] [[Category:United States History]] [[Category:Civil War]][[Category:History Booklists]][[Category:African American History]] [[Category:Expert Booklists]]{{MediawikiMediaWiki:Civil WarAmNative}}
