Question of the Week: 6/17-6/23/19
Summer’s here! So whether you’re heading for battlefields, the seaside, or just staying cool at home, what Civil War history book[s] are you reading?
Summer’s here! So whether you’re heading for battlefields, the seaside, or just staying cool at home, what Civil War history book[s] are you reading?
Rick Atkinson’s “The British are Coming.” Superb.
I just finished it. And I fully concur – a great blend of head-on battle/campaign narrative with excellent coverage of logistical, medical, etc. issues.
Hey David – thinking about adding that one to the always growing list. Thanks for the recommendation. Also thinking about McCullough’s “Pioneers” since so many academic historians are trashing it. Must be good. đ
I am re-reading the Gettysburg Bible–“The Gettysburg Campaign” by Edwin Coddington.
Conquered: Why the Army of Tennessee Failed by Larry Daniel.
William Robertson’s Fall of Chattanooga; and a few chapters from a lot of old favorites!
Reading final chapters of American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant by Ronald White. Much better than Ron Chernow’s biography.
Trying to finish Gordon Rheaâs series on the Overland Campaign but these ECW posts keep taking up my reading time!
I have three books sitting in my stack; âLet Us Die Like Menâ, The Battle of Franklin, (my favorite battlefield), âThe Great Battle Never Foughtâ, The Mine Run Campaign, and âSlaughter at the Chapelâ, the Battle of Ezra Church. Should be enough to keep me sated.
I am re-reading this summer a history/narrative that is not politically correct or accepted by the orthodox historians as a true reading of the Civil War. I am referring the Shelby Foote’s three volume “The Civil War, A Narrative”.
One of my favorites!
Still at Hay and Nicolay’s bio of Lincoln.
My current research involves some in-depth CW reading. Too many titles to list. However, for relaxation and enjoyment this summer, I’m about half way through reading “Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde.” Both informative and entertaining.
I just finished Tony Horwitz’s “Spying on the South” and am now re-reading, for sheer entertainment, “How Few Remain” by Harry Turtledove. Next after that is a new novel by Ralph Peters, “Darkness at Chancellorsville: The Triumph and Tragedy of Stonewall Jackson.”
Chris: I just finished the Peters book. As with his other books, it’s a great combination of accurate history and the reality of war (more so, in my opinion, than the Shaaras, because Peters recognizes that Victorians in combat did not remotely speak the way they wrote ).. He takes a little license with his portrayals of Hooker and Stonewall which a reader might take issue with but that’s okay. And he does an excellent job of doing justice to the XI Corps. Highly recommended (and I wish he’d turn his attention to the Western Theater or take on McClellan.)
Re reading The Business of Captivity by Michael Gray, The History of the Elmira Prison Camp by Clay Holmes, and as manyas possible of the regimental histories of NY units mustered in Elmira, NY.
We have our Hellmira book by Derek Maxfield for the ECW Series getting ready to go into production for a fall release, FYI!
1) Hunt MEADE AND LEE AT BRISTOE STATION
2) GETTYSBURG MAGAZINE ISSUE 61
3) McGrath SHEPHERDSTOWN: LAST CLASH OF THE ANTIETAM CAMPAIGN
The next three books that I will read are “Dawn of Victory” by Edward Alexander (I have just started this), then I will read “Call Out the Cadets” by Sarah Kay Bierle, and then “Civil War Winchester” by Jerry W. Holsworth. Then I hope to get started on the DOZENS of books I have acquired from our Roundtable meetings (via raffles) and the ones I bought from the speakers we have had.
Thank you for supporting your roundtable’s speakers!
The Battle of Shiloh is of personal interest because five of my distant relatives served together in the 12th Iowa Company H at that contest in April 1862. Recently, I stumbled upon the St. Louis newspaper, “Daily Missouri Republican,” and discovered extensive lists of wounded Union soldiers (and captured Confederate soldiers) transported by steamboat north from the battlefield and offloaded at Ohio River and Mississippi River ports. The editions of most interest are 15 APR – 23 APR 1862 and are available online, courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri at https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/collection/dmr/id/15088/rec/3182
Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan.The book centers upon the life of Thomas Meagher, but also provides intro to the history of Ireland and history of the Irish Brigade.