His memoir, finished just days before he succumbed to throat cancer, provides a revealing look at the victorious general and his outlook on the war. Many historians argue that Grant was the most important military figure of the entire Civil War. Johnny Reb will celebrate its diamond anniversary in 2018 and is still often the go-to source for information on the daily lives and routines of Confederate soldiers.ģ. Wiley practically invented social history in the context of Civil War soldiers. Yes, I’m cheating with a double-pick-but these two books are more or less inseparable. Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb (1943) & The Life of Billy Yank (1952) For the general public, Battle Cry and its author have become synonymous with Civil War history.Ģ. This in mind, as far and away the best-known overview of the Civil War for nearly 30 years, McPherson’s Pulitzer-winning book has been used in untold classrooms to introduce Americans to their national bloodletting. I have defined “best” here as the books that have had the greatest combined influence on how historians write about the Civil War and how the American public has learned about, understood, and remembered the conflict. James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (1988) His most recent book, Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front (2105), won the Bobbie and John Nau Book Prize in American Civil War Era History.ġ. Matthew Gallman is a professor of history at the University of Florida. Geraldine Brooks’ similarly titled, and wildly different, March (2005) is also wonderful. Doctorow’s The March: A Novel (2006), a fictional account of events during Sherman’s March to the Sea. (Although Joel Sibey’s 1977 study of the wartime Democrats merits consideration as well.)ġ0. Baker, Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of the Northern Democrats in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (1983). With that in mind, I give a nod to Jean H. I am working on a study of wartime Democrats.
#BEST BOOKS TO READ 2017 COLLEGE FREE#
William and Ellen Craft escaped from slavery when Ellen posed as a free black man, and William pretended to be her slave.ĩ.
#BEST BOOKS TO READ 2017 COLLEGE FULL#
This is my favorite in a genre full of powerful stories. William and Ellen Craft, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (1860). This is now a huge subfield, but Glaatthaar’s book is still foundational as a study of both the men of the U.S.C.T.
Glatthaar, Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers (1990). Drew Gilpin Faust's Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996) is my choice from another wonderfully deep subfield.ħ. His study of soldiers’ motivations is deeply researched and theoretically sophisticated.Ħ. McPherson could have many volumes on this list, including Battle Cry of Freedom. James McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997). Alcott’s Little Women (1868) is a close second.ĥ. Alcott’s wonderful autobiographical novel about her experiences as a wartime nurse. Louisa May Alcott, Hospital Sketches (1863).
Neely is yet another author who could have multiple titles on my list.Ĥ. This is not really a Lincoln book so much as it is a complex analysis of civil liberties in wartime. Neely Jr., The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (Oxford University Press). For more traditional Lincoln biographies, I think the best from a very long shelf of titles are the one-volume biographies by David Donald and by Richard Carwardine.ģ. I am a huge fan of Eric Foner's The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010). (Confederate artillerist Porter Alexander’s memoir would be a close second.)Ģ. President and the best memoir of the Civil War. Often described as the best book by a U.S. Grant, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Space constraints prevented us from including their answers to one of the questions we posed: What are the 10 best Civil War books ever published (nonfiction or fiction)? Below are their responses.ġ. Hulbert, James Marten, and Amy Murrell Taylor-for their opinions on a variety of popular topics, including the war's most overrated and underratred commanders, top turning points, most influential women, and best depictions on film. For our latest newsstand-only special issue, The Civil War Almanac, we asked a panel of Civil War historians-J.