Chris Kolakowski’s Top Five Civil War Books

Originally published November 2020 · p. 15

The American Heritage Book of the Civil War by Bruce Catton. American Heritage Publishing Co., 1960. A classic, and for many people, myself included, their introduction to the War. The lavish illustrations, maps, and rich text make for a powerful survey of the war. 2. Grant Moves South/Grant Takes Command by Bruce Catton. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969. One of the finest Civil War storytellers at his best. This two-volume discussion of Grant combines vivid storytelling with penetrating analysis. 3. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant. Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. It has been hailed as some of the greatest military writing since Caesar’s Commentaries, and I agree. 4. To Appomattox by Burke Davis. Rinehart & Company, 1959. Simply one of the most vivid accounts of the fall of Richmond, and the war in Virginia’s last week. 5. Mother, May You Never See the Sights I Have Seen: The Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers in the Army of the Potomac,

1864–1865 by Warren Wilkinson. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. If someone wants an exemplar of a readable regimental history, this is it. Wilkinson gives you a sense of the men in the unit, plus what they did, while maintaining a great narrative flow. All of these vividly brought the war to life in some way and offered readable and accessible accounts.

Christopher L. Kolakowski has spent his career interpreting and preserving American military history. He is the author of many articles and four books on the Civil War and World War II. He is also the Chief Historian of Emerging Civil War, and a reviewer and contributor to the Air Force Journal of Indo-Pacific Studies. Chris lives in Madison, Wisconsin.