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[thenewyorker]

My cousin is coming up on a big birthday and I would like to get her a book or two on the Civil War. She is not an academic, but sits on a Civil War committee and does a lot of battlefield tourism. Any recommendations on books she might like?
Thanks.
tny

[untenured]

There are approximately three gazillion books on the Civil War.  The answer would be "just pick one" if your cousin was a novice.  However, she sits on a committee and does tourism, so she must know the field and be knowledgeable.

I enjoyed "For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War" by authorial titan James McPherson. It discusses the war from the of perspective letters written by the men who fought.  Your cousin has surely heard of JM, but perhaps this book slipped her view over the years.

[frogfactory]

(Pet peeve)

Which civil war, now?  There have been quite a few, and at least a handful currently ongoing.

(My American friends were recently amused to learn that we have Civil War reenactment groups in the UK too, except their costumes and weapons are significantly different from the ones over here).

[yellowtractor]

(My American friends were recently amused to learn that we have Civil War reenactment groups in the UK too, except their costumes and weapons are significantly different from the ones over here).

OOOOOH.  I have, in fact, wondered about this for years.  I think we MUST get the two groups together, somehow.  I would contribute money towards such a meeting.

As for the Civil War here in the USA, I think the reigning synthetic account remains James M. McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom.  It's thick, but it's engagingly written and impeccably researched.

There are many other more specialized volumes, depending on your cousin's region, interest, and...er...side.  (Also, I think we've had a few Civil War book threads here before, if you search.)

[frogfactory]

(My American friends were recently amused to learn that we have Civil War reenactment groups in the UK too, except their costumes and weapons are significantly different from the ones over here).

OOOOOH.  I have, in fact, wondered about this for years.  I think we MUST get the two groups together, somehow.  I would contribute money towards such a meeting.

Heh.  What would that be - the Roundheads vs the Confederate states?  Why stop there?

[untenured]

If the cousin is active in CW history already, she's probably already read the biggies.  She'd probably appreciate a book that gives an intelligent, though unusual perspective to the war.

Otherwise, Battle Cry of Freedom is top notch.

[thenewyorker]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will get her the McPhersons and include a return gift receipt so if she has read them she can exchange them for another author.

[zharkov]

(My American friends were recently amused to learn that we have Civil War reenactment groups in the UK too, except their costumes and weapons are significantly different from the ones over here).

OOOOOH.  I have, in fact, wondered about this for years.  I think we MUST get the two groups together, somehow.  I would contribute money towards such a meeting.

Heh.  What would that be - the Roundheads vs the Confederate states?  Why stop there?

I'd see it more as a tag team.

The Confederates and Cavaliers vs. the Union and the Roundheads.  (I see a sort of thread from the New England Puritans to the Abolitionists.)

Gone with the Wind (the film) begins with some malarkey about the  Confederates or Southern gentry being cavaliers or knights or something foolish like that.

[kaysixteen]

Piggybacking on that US vs. English CW notion, I recall there was a book that came out in the late 90s, author escapes me, called 'The Cousins' War' IIRC, the thesis of which was that the USCW was just the last in a 250yr long series of internecine conflicts between, writ large, Puritans/ Yankees/ etc. and Cavaliers/ Southrons, etc.  It got good reviews, near as I could figure.  I started to read it one summer but was distracted, being in grad school.

[fourhats]

This is the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, so a whole slew of new books on the subject are coming out.  One new arrival is Adam Goodheart's "1861," very readable.  But plenty more are on the way.

[fishprof]

Out of left field, but perhaps "Lies My teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen for a review of American History and how the school textbook version is wrong on so many counts...

[untenured]

There is so much bloat on the Civil War.  I vaguely remember reading somewhere that there's enough material on Gettysburg that's there's a book published for every three minutes of the conflict.

I'm not stating this well, but I hope the point gets across.

[gsawpenny]

There is so much bloat on the Civil War.  I vaguely remember reading somewhere that there's enough material on Gettysburg that's there's a book published for every three minutes of the conflict.

I'm not stating this well, but I hope the point gets across.

It's out there because, gasp, people read it!  Historians rule!

I recommend you think about where your sister lives and what on board she sits. The Big Mac books mentioned above are fine but she mike like something with a more local flavor.  If she does battlefield tourism try look at the US Army Center of Military History website, they have a number of books called staff rides that allow a novice to really understand a battle.

[prof_smartypants]

What about something on reenactors, like Confederates in the Attic?

[untenured]

There is so much bloat on the Civil War.  I vaguely remember reading somewhere that there's enough material on Gettysburg that's there's a book published for every three minutes of the conflict.

I'm not stating this well, but I hope the point gets across.

It's out there because, gasp, people read it!  Historians rule!

Hey, no argument here. I can't get enough of the stuff.

I listened to Gary Gallagher's audio book on The Civil War.  It was a-mazing.  What an entertaining lecturer.  Makes me wanna go back and take his classes.