Help me learn about the US Civil War.

February 23, 2020 8:11 AM

I realized I know next to nothing about the US civil War and now seems like a good time to correct that. There are too many books to choose from, though. What should I read that will give me a comprehensive understanding of the context and events and immediate aftermath of the war?
posted by BuddhaInABucket to Education (19 answers total)

Best answer: For after the Civil War, Eric Foner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution is the definitive modern book. It's long and a little tedious, I suspect the abridged version is an easier read. And while it's not a book PBS recently did an excellent four hour documentary on Reconstruction that is definitely worth watching.
posted by Nelson at 8:32 AM on February 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

On my list, though I haven't read it yet: The Thin Light of Freedom.
posted by jon1270 at 8:34 AM on February 23, 2020

David Blight at Yale, has lectures from an intro Civil War class online, and they’re terrific. They’re nominally video, but it’s a lecture, they work fine as audio only. I listened to them a few years ago and found them a very enlightening overview.
posted by LizardBreath at 9:03 AM on February 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

Not a book , but there's always Ken Burn's 9-part documentary, "The Civil War", currently steaming on Kanopy.
posted by ShooBoo at 9:05 AM on February 23, 2020 [7 favorites]

there's always Ken Burn's 9-part documentary, "The Civil War",

which when I saw it, I almost never looked at the screen -- just had it on in the background like a radio documentary. And it worked fine that way.

And now I see that the audiobook version exists.
posted by philip-random at 9:19 AM on February 23, 2020

I really enjoyed Bayonet! Forward: My Civil War Reminiscences by Joshua Chamberlain, a college professor who became a highly-regarded General in the Union Army.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:35 AM on February 23, 2020

(Burns’ documentary tells an out-of-date mythic view of the War that centers the Confederacy. I’d avoid in favor of more recent work. You can always circle back around to it to see how white Southern myths about the War persisted for huge amounts of time.)
posted by sallybrown at 9:39 AM on February 23, 2020 [13 favorites]

It's a couple of decades old now, but James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom is a very readable, one volume history of the Civil War. Older still is David Potter's The Impending Crisis on the years leading up to the war. Eric Foner's book on Reconstruction, for the post-war years, has already been mentioned.

My history credentials are long out of date. There may be better, more recent works.
posted by maurice at 9:52 AM on February 23, 2020 [10 favorites]

Best answer: Check out the podcast Uncivil. My friend who is a history fanatic recommends it highly.
posted by bile and syntax at 10:00 AM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

I recently learned (probably here on Metafilter) about the writings of Heather Cox Richardson, History Professor at Boston College with a focus on the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era. She’s published several books on the Civil War, which might be the kind of resources you're looking for, but since last November, she’s also been publishing daily Letters from an American, discussing current politics in the context of American history. For me, Letters present history lessons in bite sized pieces that are super relevant at this time. Last night’s letter, for example.
posted by kbar1 at 10:23 AM on February 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

Yeah, don't bother with Burns's documentary.
The New York Times did a good series, Disunion, that has essays on various aspect of the Civil War era, and you can follow up with many of the historians for further work if you like their style. David W. Blight's written histories are excellent as are his lecture. Kenneth M. Stampp has a Causes of the Civil War reader that is good. Gary W. Gallagher and Joan Waugh's The American War: A History of the Civil War Era is good, too. Finally, if you get interested in the history of how the nation responded to the unimaginable casualty rate, Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering is a fantastic read.
posted by TwoStride at 10:43 AM on February 23, 2020

Seconding "Battle Cry of Freedom"
posted by briank at 11:48 AM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

I was interested in the Civil War when I was younger. I have a copy of McPherson's Ordeal By Fire that I remember being interesting enough, but I haven't read it in 20 years. I must have read Battle Cry of Freedom, but I don't have it anymore.

I'm mostly here to bring up Bruce Catton, who wrote a bunch of books in the 1950's, primarily from the Union perspective. There's just The Civil War and the fancy American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (same book, just more pictures). He also wrote a trilogy of books about the Army of the Potomac; you can sometimes get them in one volume (packaged, often unhelpfully, as Bruce Catton's Civil War), and sometimes buy them separately: Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, and A Stillness at Appomattox.

The Army of the Potomac trilogy is sharply focused (and it starts in mid-1862, and only catches back up on the story so far in flashbacks later), so it doesn't mention the western theaters, or causes or aftermath, but it's fantastic and still largely readable today.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:06 PM on February 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

On the lead-up to the war, I found Andrew Delbanco's The War Before the War, which is about the history and impact of the Fugitive Slave Act, informative and moving. Delbanco draws a lot of connections between then and now; there are some real "which side are you on" moments, exemplified by this great quote from Amos Adams Lawrence: We went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.”
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 12:26 PM on February 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

Here is a second endorsement of Bruce Catton’s military histories. They are old but good.
posted by seasparrow at 2:05 PM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

(For a quick overview, Wikipedia does the quick overview thing.)

Not specifically answering this question, but highly recommended for interesting insights deep into The Civil War, Ulysses Grant's memoir is fascinating & very well written.
posted by ovvl at 5:26 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Nthing Andrew Delbanco's The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War

posted by spamandkimchi at 7:18 PM on February 23, 2020

I'm going to recommend Battle Cry of Freedom as well. One of its great strength is it starts three decades before the war, describing the demographic, economic and political forces that led to the conflict. I had never read a concise explanation like this before. It also touches on a number of subjects (like illicit trade between the North and South during the war) that I've never encountered elsewhere.
posted by SPrintF at 7:48 AM on February 24, 2020

To get a true grasp you also will need to read books about the American Civil War that were written by non-Americans.
To avoid too much "bias", you see, by descendants of either side.
posted by dustpuppy at 7:10 PM on February 24, 2020