Every week we are asked by students, buffs, and Civil War enthusiasts about books related to the Civil War. Most inquiries are from folks just getting interested in the topic and want to learn a little bit more about the topic. One would think this would be an easy question to answer, but it is not. Tens of thousands of books have been written about the Civil War Era. These books all vary in length, quality, and depth. Just like these works, readers also vary. Readers may be looking for information about one general, one battle, or the Civil War as a whole. Below is a list of books to get you started down the road of Civil War scholarship. By no means is this a comprehensive list of titles, rather it is a list of some of the best books on the topic. Start reading about the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
General Civil War
by Williamson Murray and Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh
by James M. McPherson
by The 91ÇÑ×Ó
National Park Service
by Gary W. Gallagher and Joan Waugh
by Steven E. Woodworth
Battles and Campaigns:
by Edwin C. Bearss
by Stephen W. Sears
by Edwin C. Bearss and J. Parker Hills
by John Hennessy
by Wiley Sword
by Steven E. Woodworth
by Gordon C. Rhea
by Gary Ecelbarger
by Edwin B. Coddington
Biographies:
by Earl J. Hess
by Brian Steel Wills
by Ron Chernow
by David Herbert Donald
by Emory M. Thomas
by James I. Robertson, Jr.
by Craig L. Symonds
by David M. Jordan
Famous Military Units:
by Joseph G. Bilby
by Alan T. Nolan
by Jeffrey D. Wert
by Thomas A. Desjardin
by William C. Davis
by James I. Robertson, Jr.
Medical Care:
by Ira Rutkow
by C. Keith Wilbur
by Frank R. Freemon
by Jane E. Schultz
Memory Studies:
by Timothy B. Smith
by Karen L. Cox
by Gary W. Gallagher
by Dr. Brain Matthew Jordan
by Dr. Carol Reardon
by David W. Blight
by Kirk Savage
by Adam H. Domby
edited by Gary W. Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan
Military Memoirs, Diaries, or Letter Collections:
edited by Allan Nevins
edited by Robert Hunt Rhodes
edited by Russell Duncan
by Sam Watkins
edited by Gary W. Gallagher
edited by Milo M. Quaife
by Henry Kyd Douglas
by Theodore Lyman
Miscellaneous:
by Earl J. Hess
by Tony Horwitz
by Bob Zeller
by William A. Frassanito
by Bell I. Wiley
by Robert K. Krick
by Drew Gilpin Faust
by Jacqueline Glass Campbell
Monument Studies:
by Thomas J. Brown
by Frederick W. Hawthorne
by Sanford Levinson
Multi-Volume Series:
by James M. McPherson
by Douglas Southall Freeman
by Douglas Southall Freeman
by Shelby Foote
Novels:
by Charles Frazier
by Jeff Shaara
by Margaret Mitchell
by Alex Haley
by Michael Shaara
by Stephen Crane
by Robert Hicks
Politics:
by Charles B. Dew
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
by James M. McPherson
by James L. Swanson
by Emory M. Thomas
by George C. Rable
by David M. Potter
Preservation:
by Timothy B. Smith
by Bob Zeller
by Timothy B. Smith
Slavery and Reconstruction:
by John David Smith
by David W. Blight
by Amy Murrell Taylor
by Allen C. Guelzo
by Eric Foner
by Don E. Fehrenbacher
by Eric Foner
by Chandra Manning
Women's Studies:
by Webb Garrison
edited by John Q. Anderson
by Elizabeth Brown Pryor
by Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber
edited by C. Vann Woodward
by Drew Gilpin Faust
edited by Charles East
by Thavolia Glymph
by De Anne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook
If you are looking for more in-depth research works on the Civil War, be sure to start by checking out the following titles.
- for regimental histories
Start learning about the Civil War by clicking here.
