ECW’s Chris Mackowski Favorite Civil War Books

By Chris Mackowski · Originally published November 2018 · p. 23

Antietam: The Photographic Legacy of America’s Bloodiest Day (1978) by William Frassanito—Antietam represented the birth of photojournalism, and Frassanito’s groundbreaking study of those pictures, and those from Gettysburg, represented the birth of the modern study of Civil War photography. The Antietam book shed light on the battlefield, the nascent art of photography, and the impact of photojournalism. Confederates in the Attic (1998) by Tony Horwitz—While the cultural landscape has certainly changed since Horwitz wrote the book in 1998, his immersive journalism is still the best work to explore America’s fascination with the “unfinished Civil War.” To the North Anna River (2000) by Gordon Rhea—This book remains my gold standard for a microtactical battle narrative: insightful, well written, deeply researched, and highly readable. I’ve learned more about writing history from this book than from any other.

Chris Mackowski In alphabetical order: The Civil War: A Narrative (1958) by Shelby Foote— Historians take issue with Foote’s storytelling, but as he admitted, he sought to get at truth in a way traditional historians could not. It is a wonderfully written and magnificently crafted narrative.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (1974)—What single book has done more to hook people’s interest in the Civil War than Shaara’s novel? While it wasn’t my entre, I still admire it for that. It’s an artful book, carefully paced and thoughtful.

Chris Mackowski, the editor-in-chief of Emerging Civil War (www.emergingcivilwar. com), is associate dean of the School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University, where he teaches writing.