Given the purge of anything “Confederate” or Confederacy-related in recent days, name your favorite/best books on the Civil War, so I can buy copies before they are redacted, edited, or banned. Perhaps I will not have to pay a fortune second-hand if I act fast. I’m joking…I hope.
Yes, someone yesterday reminded me of the recommended readings for each lecture, so I’ve decided to start there. I do like the two DiLorenzo books on Lincoln. DiLorenzo also did a lecture series for the Mises Institute that dealt quite a bit with Lincoln and the war. https://mises.org/library/1-lincolns-tariff-war
Gary Gallagher’s _The Confederate War_ is excellent. So is Charles Royster’s _The Destructive War_. I assigned students in my most recent undergraduate “The Civil War” course the recent _America Aflame_. These are all general surveys. If you want something more specialized, let me know.
I concur about Johnson, certainly. Freeman’s _Lee’s Lieutenants_ is perhaps the classic military treatment. For a Lee biography, also see Freeman. For Grant, I like Simpson. For the C.S. Constitution, DeRosa. For Confederate political culture, Rable. For Confederate women, Faust. Again, there’s a book on basically any sub-topic you can think of.
Does anybody have any civil war book recommendations that would be suitable for teens? I havnt ready any books on this topic so I thought Id see if anybody had any thoughts. Perhaps something that would give a good overview on the war would be a good starting place. Anybody have any thoughts?
Is the person in question an early teen or a late teen, bright, average, or slow, etc.? Does he know anything about the subject, or will this be all new to him?
Hi Kevin (I love your courses by the way, your a great teacher and a pleasure to listen to..are you planning on doing any more courses for liberty classroom?). Yes, my friends son from my church is 10 years old and is bright and loves to read, he hasnt read anything on the subject before but he started reading a 500 or so page book on the British civil war in the 1600’s but said hes more interested in the US civil war. I haven’t read anything on the subject and didnt know where to direct him. Not sure if it helps to gauge his reading level, but he’s read all the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books, a couple bibliographies on puritans/missionaries etc. I mentioned books for teens since Im assuming hes reading at a teen level just by the books hes read so far. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated 🙂 Thanks again for taking the time!
Thanks very much for the recommendation, I will look forward to your course when it is available as well 🙂 You have a gift of explaining events that seem to me complex (and probably are) in a way that I can understand, which is amazing and a sign of a great teacher. Thanks again!
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