John Coski’s Top Ten Civil War Books

Originally published November 2020 · pp. 20–21

John Coski’s Top Ten Civil War Books (listed by date of publication) 1. The Scouts of Stonewall by Joseph A. Altsheler. Appleton, 1914. Volume 3 of Altsheler’s 8-volume series of novels for adolescents was the first book I checked out of the Little Creek Naval Base library for a grade school project on Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign. Obscure though it is, this series was my introduction to the Civil War. 2. A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton. Doubleday, 1953. By middle school I graduated to the elegant prose of Bruce Catton. As a metaphor for the more serious war of 1864, Catton described how men now shot at each other while “attending to an imperative call of nature.” The earthy euphemism appealed to John the boy; the evocative metaphor has stayed with John the man. 3. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War edited by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel. Popular Edition, Thomas Yoseloff, 1956. I received the four volumes as presents from my eldest sister and parents in 1973–1974. B&L taught me about primary sources and long remained my first stop for every research project. 4. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. McKay, 1974. I never tire of boasting that I was one of the first people to read this classic novel. My local independent bookstore owner lent me a galley proof that I devoured in the summer of 1974. 5. The Cause Lost: Myths and Realities of the Confederacy by William C. Davis. University Press of Kansas, 1996. Having heard Jack Davis deliver his “Myths and Realities” talk at the Richmond Civil War Round Table with his customary panache, I couldn’t wait to read this collection of essays. My wife (also a Jack Davis groupie) and I read it aloud, and we still chortle over its many pungent and insightful observations. 6. The Confederate War: How Popular Will, Nationalism, and Military Strategy Could Not Stave Off Defeat by Gary W. Gallagher. Harvard University Press, 1997. Crystal clear, insightful, commonsensical, persuasive arguments relating to complex topics delivered with humor and force. Reading this book is almost as good as listening to a Gary Gallagher lecture. 7. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz. Random House,

1998). Many of my recent favorite books are monographs about Civil War memory, but no one has captured the seriousness and the zaniness of the world I’ve inhabited for 30+ years better than the late, lamented journalist Tony Horwitz. 8. Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters by Elizabeth Brown Pryor. Viking/ Penguin, 2007. Pryor was a great admirer of Lee, but her portrait of him is notable for its critical revelations about Lee’s attitudes and actions regarding slavery and secession. The book is remarkable for its insightful portrayal of a flawed human being and for the integrity of its author. 9. General Lee’s Army from Victory to Collapse by Joseph T. Glatthaar. Free Press, 2008. How did Joe Glatthaar manage to digest decades and mountains of research into a single volume that is at once chronological, thematic, narrative, and analytical? Awesome! 10. I Remain Yours: Common Lives in Civil War Letters by Christopher Hager. Harvard University Press, 2018. I’ve spent much of my career reading, transcribing, and writing about soldiers’ letters, but Christopher Hager’s beautifully written book has taught me new things about the art of letter writing and what letters reveal about the human condition. John M. Coski is historian at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond.