Civil War buffs. Good books to recommend?

• thavoice

  Stopped by some battlefields over the weekend in Tennessee. Saw some books in the bookstore that looked interesting.
  
  I have read a number of WWII and current war books but not much about the Civil War.
  
  What are some good historical reads on that war?
  
  As a side note......I didnt know that Nathan Bedfor Forrest was a real guy. I thought that was made up in the movie Forrest GUmp
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Bruce Catton wrote a series of books which would be a good starting point, and after reading those, maybe one or two areas will be more interesting for you to get some information on.
• I Wear Pants

  
  
  
  
  In that order.
• se-alum

  

  thavoice;835417 wrote:Stopped by some battlefields over the weekend in Tennessee. Saw some books in the bookstore that looked interesting.
  
  I have read a number of WWII and current war books but not much about the Civil War.
  
  What are some good historical reads on that war?
  
  As a side note......I didnt know that Nathan Bedfor Forrest was a real guy. I thought that was made up in the movie Forrest GUmp

  What year did you drop out of school??
• thavoice

  I Wear Pants;835485 wrote:
  
  
  
  In that order.

  
  I saw the movie of Gods and Generals...the book any better?
  
  Saw the Killer Angels book there as well.
• thavoice

  se-alum;835549 wrote:What year did you drop out of school??

  
  Jr year.
  
  Of college.
  
  Do no recall if I had knew it and forgot, or never learned it.
• I Wear Pants

  thavoice;835702 wrote:I saw the movie of Gods and Generals...the book any better?
  
  Saw the Killer Angels book there as well.

  The book is much better. One of my favorites.
• jmog

  A very interesting set of books is the Harry Turtledove fictional history series that starts with Guns of the South.
  
  Guns of the South goes a little sci fi but the historical accuracy of the people involved is astonishing.
  
  He continues the thought process of the south winning in a long series that starts with How Few Remain: The Second War Between the States.
  
  
  He takes this series all the way through WWII
• The Equalizer

  

  Shelby Foote wrote a 3 part anthology that I always liked. Also check Ken Burns PBS documentary on it.
• namod65

  

  I read Killer Angels back in high school. Loved it.
• I Wear Pants

  namod65;835752 wrote:I read Killer Angels back in high school. Loved it.

  I actually find that I like Jeff Shaara's (Michael's son) books better than The Killer Angels.
• swamisez

  

  Evan Carton wrote agreat book, Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the heart and soul of America
  
  John Brown went HAM in Missouri, Kansas, and Western Virginia in the span of 3 years.
• Little Danny

  

  The Equalizer;835744 wrote:Shelby Foote wrote a 3 part anthology that I always liked. Also check Ken Burns PBS documentary on it.

  
  Foote's book is called The Civil War: A Narrative.
  
  A book I enjoyed because it outlined the sheer physical destruction of the war was Charles Royster's "The Destrive War: William Tecumsah Sherman, Stonewall Jackson and The Americans.
  
  Of course, if you are looking at what is considered the "Bible" as far as a history of the Civil War, you should turn to James McPherson's "Battlecry of Freedom".