50 Civil War Books to Read
In honor of its 50th Anniversary, in 2011, the Louisville Civil War Round Table selected what it considers the 50 Essential Books on the Civil War. These works are not necessarily the best books on the era, but rather are the basic resources necessary for anyone to understand the period 1861-1865. The list is divided by categories and touches as much of the war as possible; no effort was made to rank the books within each category, or to decide the relative merits of each type of book. All of these titles are available today. Taken as a whole, they represent the Civil War and its myriad facets. | |
B Battles/Campaigns: Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas by John HenneseyThe Gleam of Bayonets: The Battle of Antietam by James Murfin The Campaign of Chancellorsville by John Bigelow The Campaign of Gettysburg by Edward Coddington The Vicksburg Campaign 3 Vols by Ed Bearss This Terrible Sound: Chickamauga by Peter Cozzens Wilderness/Spotsylvania by Gordon Rhea Shiloh: Bloody April by Wiley Sword Stonewall in the Valley by Robert Tanner Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 by Albert Castel | |
Biography: R E Lee 4 Vols by Douglas S. Freeman The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans by William Lamers John Breckinridge by William C. Davis The Young Napoleon by Stephen Sears Rock of Chickamauga: The Life of General George H. Thomas by Freeman Cleaves Lincoln by David Donald Lee the Soldier edited by Gary Gallagher Jefferson Davis by William Cooper Lincoln and His Generals by T. Harry Williams Stonewall Jackson by James I. Robertson | |
Fiction/Literature: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe | |
General Histories: Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes by Francis Miller Battles & Leaders Century Magazine The American Heritage History of the Civil War (Old Version Bruce Catton) Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson The Civil War 3 vols by Shelby Foote Virginia at War 4 vols edited by William C. Davis and James I. Robertson | |
Memoir: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant Memoirs of William T. Sherman by William T. Sherman The Civil War Papers of George McClellan by Stephen Sears A Confederate War Clerk's Diary by John B. Jones Fighting for the Confederacy by E.P. Alexander Memoirs of a Dutch Mudsill: The War Memories of John Henry Otto 21st Wisconsin by John Henry Otto Company Aytch by Sam Watkins A Diary From Dixie by Mary Boykin Chestnut Memoir of Service Afloat During the War Between the States by Raphael Semmes The Children of Pride: A True Story of Georgia in the Civil War by Charles Babcock Jones edited by Robert Meyer |