John D. Fowler’s Top Ten Civil War Books

Originally published November 2020 · pp. 16–17

John D. Fowler’s Top Ten Civil War Books Choosing the top ten books in Civil War historiography is a daunting task. Well over 50,000 books have been published on the subject, and each year nearly a hundred more join the ever-expanding library. As a professor who has focused on the Civil War Era for the last two decades, my choices for the “top ten” are perhaps different than most students of the war. I gauge the value of these volumes by how they changed the field of Civil War history as well as how they can be utilized in the classroom. I do mention a few more than ten, which may seem like cheating. I offer the excuse that those listed are either connected to other works or are optional choices. Additionally, many books may seem dated. I offer no apology; instead, I point out that they have stood the test of time and remain important to the field. Finally, my choices are “military heavy.” Again, I will not apologize for this. While I applaud the many excellent works that cover the various non-military aspects of the war, such as the home front, the role of women, the African American experience, diplomacy, etc., in the end, I believe the war was decided on the battlefield. Thus, my interests and research have led me to those battlefields. To begin, the best overall studies of the Civil War belong to renowned historian James McPherson. His Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford University Press, 1988) is universally considered the best single volume on the Civil War. It won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize in History and still remains a must read. In the work, McPherson deftly covers all aspects of the war and posits the critical moments when victory could have been claimed by either side. The book’s only limitation is that it stops in 1865, failing to cover Reconstruction. However, his equally phenomenal Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982) covers both the war and its aftermath, making it an ideal choice as an introduction to America’s great calamity. As of this date, both works remain at the pinnacle of one-volume studies, and both serve as popular textbooks in most university level Civil War classes.

After gaining an overall knowledge of the war, readers should move on to a detailed look at secession and the Confederacy. While many excellent one-volume studies of the Confederacy have been published, Emory Thomas’s The Confederate Nation, 1861–1865 (Harper Collins, 1979) remains the best introduction to the subject. Thomas’s work builds on his earlier The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience (Prentice-Hall, 1970), in which he posits the now widely accepted thesis that the Confederacy was a counter-Revolution against the modernization of Northern society. Next, it is critical that students of the Civil War understand the motivations of the men who waged the battles that ultimately decided the fate of two nations. Legendary Civil War scholar Bell Wiley’s two seminal works, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (Bobbs-Merrill, 1943) and The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union (BobbsMerrill, 1952) blazed the trail in their analysis of the life of the ordinary Civil War soldier. Both deserve to be included on this list for their insights and wealth of information. Wiley’s student, a renowned Civil War scholar in his own right, James I. Robertson, used material collected by both Wiley and himself to create the one-volume Soldiers, Blue and Gray (University of South Carolina Press, 1998), an excellent book for Civil War classes. James McPherson claims another spot for his groundbreaking For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 1998), which delves into the motivation of Civil War Era soldiers based on the examination of tens of thousands of letters written by soldiers to their families. McPherson finds that differing conceptions of “liberty” drove the men of both sides and of different races into the hellish conflict. For those wishing a concise introduction to McPherson’s ideas, a slim volume covering his early research and thesis can be found in What They Fought For, 1861–1865 (Oxford University Press, 1995), developed from McPherson’s research presentation at the Walter Lynn Fleming lecture series as he completed For Cause and Comrades. No list would be complete without the inclusion of works focused on the battles, campaigns, and armies of the Civil War. Thomas Connelly’s two-volume study of the Army of Tennessee, Army of the Heartland (Louisiana State University Press, 1967) and

Autumn of Glory (Louisiana State University Press, 1971) is still the standard by which Civil War military studies are measured. The work is meticulously researched and thorough. Moreover, Connelly’s determination to focus the outcome of the war on the Western Theater forever changed the Eastern-centric view that had dominated Civil War scholarship until that point. While the debate over where the Civil War was won or lost continues, Connelly gave Western Theater advocates their first solid study. Naturally, biographies of celebrated individuals who fought and led during the war have been popular in Civil War research and writing. The best of these is still Douglas Southall Freeman’s four-volume study of Robert E. Lee, R.E. Lee: A Biography (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934-35). This comprehensive work covers the man and the general in exhaustive detail. While Lee is not a popular figure in today’s culture because of his connection with the Confederacy, a former generation awarded Freeman the Pulitzer Prize for this work in 1935. While it is a hagiographical tribute in many ways, it nonetheless sets a scholarly standard for research and writing in the field. Equally important was Freeman’s critically acclaimed three-volume Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1942–1944), published during the height of the Second World War. Freeman deftly weaves biography with military actions at the strategic and tactical levels to produce a classic that demonstrates how a Civil War army, perhaps the best led of the war, actually functioned. This military study has yet to be surpassed. The final book on my list is not for scholars or for wellread students of the Civil War Era. The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (American Heritage, 1960) by Bruce Catton is for those just beginning to learn the history of America’s greatest tragedy. This volume captured the imagination of a generation. It infused zeal into the Civil War Centennial and awakened enthusiasm for everything associated with the war, from battle reenactments to battlefield preservation. It remains an outstanding and lavishly illustrated overview of the war for young readers. Who can forget those excellent battle map paintings by David Greenspan? Many spent hours poring over those maps as a child, imagining the battles and tracing the course of the fighting. Unfortunately, books for young readers are not generally as well written or as beautifully illustrated today. These are certainly not all the great books on the conflict, but these have proven to be among the most consequential in the field of Civil War historiography and the ones that influenced me the most to become a Civil War historian. John D. Fowler is the author of several books and articles on the Civil War Era. He is currently a Professor of History at Dalton State College.