Wiki Bibliography of the American Civil War
These are books on subjects from the class lectures. On several topics like Confederate military leaders, ordinary soldiers, military campaigns and battles, slaves and slave owners, and southern women, these books are only a very small number of what is available. See me for suggestions on these or other books that are in your areas of interest and suitable for your experience in reading Civil War history. The books in bold print are ones I used for talks in this course.
The best overall book on what led up to the war and what happened during the war itself. It covers military, political, and social history. A must have for all Civil War history enthusiasts..
McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988, 2005)
Note: A
good map atlas is valuable understanding the Civil War. Talk to me if you want suggestions on choosing one.
This prize winning comparative history of a slave county below the Mason-Dixon line and a free county above it follows the residents of Franklin County, PA and Augusta County, VA (160 further south) through a couple years of the war. If you enjoyed Sutherland's book, you will enjoy this one, too...
Ayers, Edward. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864 (2004)
Military History
Some excellent books on Robert E. Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia, the Overland Campaign, Gettysburg and Confederate soldiers in general. There are also very good biographies of Grant and Jackson.
Glatthaar, Joseph. General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse (2008)
Gallagher, Gary. The Confederate War (1997)
(also try - Gallagher, Gary. The Union War (2011))
Sheehan-Dean, Aaron. Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia (2009)
Phillips, Jason. Diehard Rebels: The Confederate Culture of Invincibility (2010)
Pryor, Elizabeth. Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee through His Letters. (2005)
Waugh, Joan. U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth (2013)
White, Ronald C. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (2016)
Gwynne, S.C. Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson (2014)
Krick, Robert. Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain (1990)
Grimsley, Mark. And Keep Moving On: The Virginia Campaign, May-June 1864 (2005) (The Overland Campaign)
Guelzo. Alan. Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (2013) 632 pages.
Trudeau, Noah. Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea (2009) 704 pages.
Glatthaar, Joseph. The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns (1995)
The Civilian War: Confederate Women and Union Soldiers during Sherman's March (2015)
Barrett, John. Sherman's March Though the Carolinas (1996)
Irregular warfare (guerrillas) & Union "hard war" policies
Grimsley, Mark. The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy towards Southern Citizens (1997)
Sutherland, Daniel. A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War (2009)
Mackey, Robert. The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861-1865 (2004)
On southern Unionists:
Inscoe, John (ed.). Enemies of the Country: New Perspectives on Unionists in the Civil War South (2004) This book is a collection of essays.
McKenzie, Robert Tracy. Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided Town in the American Civil War (2009) (Knoxville, Tn)
Paludin, Philip. Victims: A True Story of the Civil War (2004) (The Shelton Laurel Massacre)
McCaslin, Richard: Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging of Gainesville, Texas, 1862 (1997)
Bynum, Victoria. The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War (2002, 2016 - movie edition).
Women & Gender:
Faust, Drew Gilpin. Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996) A great book on southern elite women, $15.
McCurry, Stephanie. Masters of Small Worlds: Yeoman Households, Gender Relations, and the Political Culture of the Antebellum South Carolina Low Country (1997) Excellent, $20.
McCurry, Stephanie Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South (2012) Excellent on yeoman and poor southern women (and also on slaves), $21.
Edwards, Laura. Scarlett Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Southern Women in the Civil War Era (2000) Very good! $20.
Clinton, Catherine and Nina Silber (eds) Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War (1992) (Essay Collection) An early classic, $6.
Clinton, Catherine and Nina Silber (eds) Battle Scars: Gender and Sexuality in the American Civil War (2006) (Essay Collection) 232 pages. Wait for a copy under $8.
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South (1988)
On military occupations:
Whites, LeeAnn & Alecia Long (eds.). Occupied Women: Gender, Military Occupation, and the American Civil War (2012)
Ash, Steven. When the Yankees Came: Conflict and Chaos in the Occupied South, 1861-1865 (1999)
Rules of Warfare:
Witt, John Fabian. Lincoln's Code: The Laws of War in American History (2013)
Walzer, Michael: Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (1977)
On Civil Liberties during the War (not a topic in this class):
Neely, Mark Jr. Southern Rights: Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism (1999)
Neely. Mark Jr. The Fate of Liberty" Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (1992)
Neely, Mark Jr. Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict in the American Civil War (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era) (2011) 408 pages.
Blair, William. With Malice toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era) (2014) 432 pages.
Southern blacks, free and enslaved:
There are dozens of excellent books on slavery and free blacks. Berlin's more recent book, listed below, is very good for beginners on the topic. Beyond that the choices are many. If you want to read something beyond the beginner's level, I'll be happy to discuss choices with you.
Berlin, Ira. Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves (2006) (Goes to 1850 - best introductory book on slavery)
Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: the First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (1998) (Only goes to 1800 but has more detail than the previous one)
Horton, James Oliver & Lois E. Slavery and the Making of America (2005)
Faust, Drew Gilpin. Southern Stories: Slaveholders in Peace and War (1992)
Morgan, Jennifer. Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery (2004)
Baptist, Edward. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (2014) Excellent.
Williams, Heather. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom (2007)
Williams, Heather. Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery (2012)
Gross, Ariela. Double Character: Slavery and Mastery in the Antebellum Southern Courtroom (2006)
Ely, Melvin. Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s Through the Civil War (2005) 660 pages.
The Genoveses write very scholarly history books that may be too challenging for beginners:
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth and Eugene Genovese. The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview (2005)
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth and Eugene Genovese. Fatal Self-Deception: Slaveholding Paternalism in the Old South (2011)
Slavery / the Civil War in Florida
Rivers, Larry. Slavery in Florida: Territorial Days to Emancipation (2009)
Rivers, Larry. Rebels and Runaways: Slave Resistance in Nineteenth-Century Florida (2013)
Baptist, Edward. Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier Before the Civil War (2002)
Shafer, Daniel. Thunder on the River: The Civil War in Northeast Florida (2014)
Ash, Steven. Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of Two Black Regiments that Changed the Course of the Civil War (2008)
Presidential Biographies
Cooper, William Jr. Jefferson Davis, American (2001)
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2006)
Foner, Eric. The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2011)
Crofts, Daniel. Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery: The Other Thirteenth Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union (2016)
White, Ronald Jr. A. Lincoln: A Life (2010) 800+ pages!
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