Question of the Week: What are you reading?

What Civil War book are you currently reading?



54 Responses to Question of the Week: What are you reading?

  1. I just finished Jonathan A. Noyalas’ book “The Blood-tinted Waters of the Shenandoah: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Springs, July 17-18, 1864” and started the fisrt chapter of Ryan T. Quint’s book “Dranesville: A Northern Virginia Town in the Crossfire of a Forgotten Battle, December 20, 1861.”

    1. Thanks for the support! If you have any questions or curiosities, please feel free to shout!

  2. General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of General William S. Rosecrans Influenced Our Understanding of the Civil War by Frank Varney

    1. That sounds really interesting. Does Varney include George Thomas in the book and how his reputation was impacted by Grant’s post-war writings?

      1. Just Rosecrans … the author makes a valiant attempt to rehabilitate Rosey’s reputation … the author’s scholarship is great and the book is highly readable … in the end, however, his argument falls flat — Rosey was a brave soldier but his record and reputation as an army commander stands at one and one – a win at Stones River and loss at Chickamauga … nonetheless, I highly recommend Dr. Varney’s book.

  3. All Roads Led to Gettysburg by Troy Harman, in which he argues that the combination of roads, waterways and railways (including those destroyed) made the choice of battlefield inevitable.

    1. War upon the Land: Military Strategy and the Transformation of Southern Landscapes during the American Civil War

  4. “Decisions at Franklin – The Nineteen Critical Decisions That Defined the Battle” by Andrew S. Bledsoe

  5. Just finished “The Heart of Hell”, by Jeff Wert”, ans just started “Decisions at Franklin”, by Andrew Bledsoe.

  6. Recollections of the 4th Missouri Cavalry by William S. Burns Captain Co. I 4th Missouri Cavalry (Union) Ed by Frank Allen Dennis
    Genealogical research of a Great great grandfather August Ulitzsch Bugler of Co. L 4th Mo Cav

  7. From Frederick to Sharpsburg: People,Places, and Events of the Maryland Campaign Before Antietam. by Steven R. Stotelmyer

  8. “The Most Complete Political Machine Ever Known: The North’s Union Leagues in the American Civil War” by Paul Taylor.

  9. I’m actually reading two books. The first one is “The Greatest Escape” authored by Douglas Miller. It tells the story of the Union POW’s who were imprisoned in Libby prison in Richmond and after many escape failures, finally by digging a tunnel, successfully broke out of their confinement. The second book is Harry Pfanz’s wonderful rendition of “Gettysburg, The Second Day”.

  10. War in the Western Theater: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War; eds. Sarah Kay Bierle and Chris Mackowski

  11. Heard Tim Smith and Rick Hatchet speak at the Sacred Trust talks in Gettysburg last weekend. Too hot to work outside so read “Iron Dice of Battle” by Tim Smith and “Thunder in the Harbor” by Rick Hatcher. Also bought “Union General Daniel Butterfield” at the Gettysburg Heritage Center and met Jim Pula and had him sign his book. Hope to finish it today. All good books that I would highly recommend.

  12. A Pitiless Rain: The Battle of Williamsburg, 1862 by Earl C. Hastings, Jr. and David Hastings

  13. The Left-Armed Corps: Writings by Amputee Civil War Veterans, edited by Allison M. Johnson.

  14. Pre-gaming for the ECW Symposium by re-reading Gordon Rhea’s second book in the Overland Campaign series, “The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7-12, 1864”

  15. Erik Larson’s “Demon of Unrest” with Yeal Sternhell’s “War on Record” up next.

  16. Most of my reading lately has been focused on the causes of the Civil War. I recently made an exception after I heard an excellent, very interesting discussion online from the Museum of Civil War Medicine. The focus of the Zoom program was a book authored by Carole Adrienne. It was Healing a Divided Nation: How the American Civil War Revolutionized Western Medicine. I would recommend the book and the author to any Round Table looking for an unusual program.

  17. For Cause, For Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin by Eric Jacobson and Richard Rupp. I highly recommend it.

  18. I’m reading The Unvanquished: the Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers and the Shadow War that Forged America’s Special Operations.

    Is anyone else reading this? What do you think? I find it entertaining, fast moving and well written although seems more about Mosby’s Rangers than the Jessie Scouts but I am in the early chapters.

  19. Just finished Daniel Murphy’s Horse Soldiers at Gettysburg, which recounts the cavalry action from Brandy Station to Falling Waters and explains what cavalry fighting was really like. Highly recommended.

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