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NFT: Mike in Philly/bluepepper - Civil War

Rick5 : 3/6/2015 7:23 pm
I'm sure you guys remember that I posted a civil war book thread about a month ago. Mike, I finished "Southern Storm" about a week or so ago. What an amazing book! It was quite a tome, but what a remarkable book on Sherman's march. Thanks!

bluepepper - I am about 100 pages into For Cause and Comrades right now. Wow. Great stuff! McPherson is such a great writer. The book is just mesmerizing. I'm going to be really sorry when this one ends. I think my next book will be another McPherson book. Battle Cry of Freedom is probably my favorite Civil War book ever and reading For Cause and Comrades makes me definitely want to read all of his books now.
Rick  
Mike in Philly : 3/6/2015 8:38 pm : link
glad you enjoyed it. If you haven't already, you may want to read the books by Bruce Catton. He does an amazing job of going into all the political and social issues of the time leading up to, and all throughout, the war. Eric recommended them to me and they are now a permanent part of my library.
Battle Cry of Freedom  
bluepepper : 3/6/2015 8:56 pm : link
is a great book. It's a political and social history of the era from the Mexican War thru the Civil War. Don't know anybody who has anything but good things to say about it but military history buffs might want more on battles and generals.

McPherson's book on Antietam is worth reading but the Sears book mentioned in the old thread is better IMO.

The only other thing I read by McPherson is his fairly recent bio of Jefferson Davis. Not very good. I'll give him a pass because he's getting kind of old and I guess historians can lose a bit as they age like the rest of us.

Another book I'd recommend that wasn't mentioned in the old thread is T. Harry Williams' Lincoln and his Generals.
Mike -  
Rick5 : 3/7/2015 8:54 am : link
I have read the three volume set on the CW but not the books on the Army of the Potomac (or any of his others).

bluepepper - Thanks for the additional rec. I may read a couple more of McPherson's books, and then I'll check out Sears or the book you just mentioned.
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