(Vanity) Recommendations For Books on the "Civil War"/War Between The States

[kalee]

The Last Generation by Peter S. Carmichael

http://www.historynet.com/the-last-generation-young-virginians-in-peace-war-and-reunion-book-review.htm

[Libertarianize the GOP]

You might appreciate a really odd selection. Karl Marx exchanged letters with Frederick Engels, it gives a view based on what was being written in the London Times, although it also includes columns Marx had published in a New York Paper prior to the war. “The Civil War in the U.S.” Marx was a huge fan of Lincoln.

[afnamvet]

read later

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Marx was a huge fan of Lincoln.

The broken clock is right twice a day.

[x]

Gary Gallagher, one of today's more distinguished historians of the Civil War, has a new book out, Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War. As the title indicates, it's not so much about the war itself, as its images in popular culture.

Gallagher has an interesting take on the films that gave most of us our ideas about the war. If you want to learn more about the war itself, you might check out his Teaching Company course on the American Civil War, which is available on tape, CD, or DVD at many public libraries.

I learned a lot about the origins of the war from Charles B. Dew's Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War and Eric H. Walter's The Fire-Eaters.

Thomas Krannawitter, who may actually have posted here, has a book coming out in August, Vindicating Lincoln: Defending the Ideals of Our Greatest President. It may also be worth a look.

[GOP_Raider]

Marx was a huge fan of Lincoln.

Really?? That's too intriguing to pass up. I would think that he would prefer a divided U.S. for as long as possible (or maybe a guy like Lenin would have), I'm really surprised about this.

[GOP_Raider]

No bother, but I can see a lot of good recommendations from others right of the bat. “The Killer Angels” is an absolutely fantastic historical fiction, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I’d start there because if you don’t find that book interested, then you’re not going to find the Civil War interesting.

I always found the Civil War interesting so that won't be a problem whatsoever. My main motivation is to actually find out on my own from various sources rather than what I "learned" all thanks to public education.

From that you can find any number of books that delve into the subject or subjects you choose. Enjoy.

My original idea would be to try and start from before the War, with topics like Dred Scott, "Bleeding Kansas", secession in the South, Fort Sumter, and then go from there. Thanks for the recommendations!

[GOP_Raider]

Now this I had no idea even happened in the War. I’m definitely going to try and find this one. Thanks.

[GOP_Raider]

Nathan Bedford Forrest - A Biography by Jack Hurst

Forrest is a guy that I'd like to read and research more about because the conventional "wisdom" I always heard about him was his connection to the KKK and that he was some kind of racist boor. Thanks, I'll look into these two.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

Marx's vision of history led him to believe that the triumph of the proletariat was inevitable. Seeing America divided and weakened was irrelevant to his vision. According to Marx, Lincoln was a son of the proletariat and his leading a revolution to change America away from leadership by the Planter Aristocracy was one more step. Lenin, fifty some years later, was more interested in power and saw an opportunity in events happening in Russia. He then sought to export his revolution around the world and a divided America would likely have aided his cause.

[BnBlFlag]

Thanks for the ping!
“Rebel Private, Front and Rear” by William A. Fletcher of the Texas Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. The memoirs of an ordinary Confederate Soldier who fought in most of the major battles in Virginia and at Gettysburg. He was wounded three times and escaped from a moving Yankee Prison train. When, due to his injuries, he could no longer serve as an infantryman, he finished his srvice as a Texas Ranger. An outstanding book with first class reviews. Shelby Foote loved it.

[STONEWALLS]

“My main motivation is to actually find out on my own from various sources rather than what I “learned” all thanks to public education.”

.....may I suggest going straight to the internet for some reading of the origional sources....that’s what I’m doing this summer and having a lot of fun doing it...plus I’m sharing my research with family members who are enjoying it too......for example, I went into the Florida state archives and pulled my g-grandfather’s Confederate Pension file....this one document has led me thru his unit’s involvment in three battles, the nature of his wounds, his capture and imprisonment at Camp Douglas Illinois, his refusal to take the Oath of Alligence and his long walk of 1000 miles home at war’s end.....once you get into origional sources it’s hard to stop....and after all, that’s what the guys who write the books do any way....who knows, your research may inspire you to write your own book!...best of luck, and thank you for the ping.

[abb]

I read this one a couple of months ago. Thomas, now deceased, was from my home town and went to school with my older sister and brother-in-law. A very readable book with some interesting things not likely found anywhere else.

Dark and Bloody Ground: The Battle of Mansfield and the Forgotten Civil War in Louisiana by Thomas Ayres. Taylor Trade Publishing

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Bloody-Ground-Mansfield-Forgotten/dp/0878331808/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214522818&sr=1-3

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/bookrev/ayres.html

[Dante3]

Perhaps a little too specialized but deals with an interesting figure - "A Meteor Shining Brightly: Essays on Major General Patrick R. Cleburne," Edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, Mercer U. Press.

A review quoted Robert E. Lee saying of Cleburne, "On a field of battle he shone like a meteor in a clouded sky."

[stainlessbanner]

Those Texans were hard to beat. I believe it was Lee who asked for more of Hood's Texans because they were hard fighting men.

I haven't read Fletcher's book, but it sure sounds like a great one.

[StoneWall Brigade]

The Virgina Regimental Series is a great read it costs a lot of money but very well worth it.

[stainlessbanner]

Forrest was the best cavalry commander in the Western theater and the entire war.

The Confederacy had 32 lieutenant generals and full generals. 29 were West Pointers; the other three were Richard Taylor (President's son), South Carolinian Wade Hampton, and a self-made man whose formal education spanned a whopping 3 months: Forrest.

He joined the army as a private, used his personal private funds to outfit his men, and became the only private to rise the rank of general.

Forrest was a master of the cavarly, fantastic as improvisation, and took care of his materiel, men, and horses. His Napoleonic tactics were unprecendented in the War and made the Union pay by "keeping the scare on 'em"

In an 1865 letter, clerk George W. Cables recalled General Forrest:

"Genl. Forrest is a hard worker. Every body about him must be busy. I think he calls for "them clerks" a dozen times a day. He attends to everything himself, sits and talks to every one, knows every one by name, boasts of his personal prowess to his captains, tells everything he intends to do, and tells the same instructions over fifty times in half an hour. When he dictates a letter or telegram he labors for good language, & takes many words to say but little. His brain, however, is as clear as crystal & he seems to think of a dozen things at once, & can keep an office full of clerks writing at one time. He is a tall, plainlooking man. . . . He is dressed in jeans, has iron-grey hair & whiskers, & abominates whistling."

[PAR35]

My main motivation is to actually find out on my own from various sources rather than what I "learned" all thanks to public education.

At some point you need to read the Confederate Constitution and compare it to the US Constitution. (I was fortunate enough to see the original)
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/csa/csa.htm

Also look here for interesting documents:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/csa/csapage.htm

Turtledove's novels have been mentioned. For a straight up historical novel that is quite good, Fort Pillow deals with that battle and Gen. Forrest.

Don't forget to read up on the western theater - often overlooked.

[stainlessbanner]

Another must read is Jeffrey Rogers Hummel's "Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War"

[Fiji Hill]

It would probably be a safe bet that few Southern Californians know that they live within a day’s drive of a Civil War battlefield—Picacho Peak, about 40 miles west of Tucson, Ariz., where the two armies clashed in 1862.