Civil War Primer — by Pat Granstra

Recently a young man told me of his desire to learn about the Civil War and asked what book on the subject should he read first.  His  was a good question, straighforward and specific. It was also difficult to answer. 

The difficulty in suggesting a title does not arise from a lack of good books, for many have been written and new titles appear regularly.  Rather, it stems from readers having a variety of interests, backgrounds, and preferences.  I hope the following suggestions will help you find a volume you will enjoy as you learn about the Civil War.    

• Battle  Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson  Part of The Oxford History of the United States, this book is generally considered the best single-volume work on the war.  McPherson reviews the decades of political and social conflicts leading to secession, as well as detailing the military and political  maneuverings of the war years. A  history professor, McPherson writes in a cohesive, scholarly style characterized by lengthy, detail-dense paragraphs and substantial content footnotes. As a result, his pages contain little white space, creating an intimidating visual appearance for some readers.  However, the young man who asked me to recommend a title was a recent college graduate with a couple of American history courses under his belt, and I felt comfortable referring him to The Battle Cry of Freedom.  

• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Civil War, 2nd Edition by Alan Axelrod    On the title page of one of my garage sale finds is written ” North = Blue; Gray = South.”  From that notation and the pristine condition of the book, I believe the previous owner decided it was not the right pick for his Civil War primer.  I hope he made Axelrod’s guide his next choice. Covering the same topics as McPherson, Axelrod uses fewer details, no footnotes, and a breezy style including the use of second person.  He begins each section with a bulleted list of main topics and ends each with a summary entitled “The Least You Need to Know” about them.  In addition to maps and photographs, each section features boldface subject divisions and textboxes containing definitions, quotations, battle statistics, anecdotes, and information about parks and museums.  Appendeces include a glossary of Civil War terminology and a Who’s Who of Civil War personages.  In the style of other Idiot’s books, Axelrod’s guide to the Civil War is geared to an audience familiar with sound bites and photo ops.  With its conversational style, Axelrod’s book is a fun read for a nascent Civil War nut yet substantial enough become a handy reference book.

• Don’t Know Much About the Civil War by Kenneth C. Davis  This volume is one of my favorites.  Davis uses a variety of techniques to keep his reader interested.  He opens each of eight sections with a series of provocative questions and supplements his answering discussions with  relevant chronologies (called Milestones) and quotations from a variety of wartime personages.  He also compares situations from the Civil War with contemporary issues.  Davis’s style reveals his sense of humor and his penchant for intriguiging tangential information, such as the refusals of Longfellow, Bryant, and Wittier to be the keynote speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery.  “Aftermath,” the book’s final chapter, contains not only the requisite discussions of Lincoln’s assassination and the Reconstruction but also a section on the post-war lives of many prominant wartime figures .  An appendix containing the text of many documents relevant to the Civil War, such as the Dred Scot Decision, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875, completes the volume.  

• Decisive Battles of the Civil War by Lt. Col. Joseph B. Mitchell  The author, a noted military historian, states that his book will provide “a short history of the Civil War with its events and leaders in their proper perspective” and “place its battles and campaigns in modern, up-to-date surroundings.”  Mitchell accomplishes these goals by devoting a chapter to each of fourteen battles, in their chronological order and providing concise narratives bridging the progress of the war between the battles.  He also includes 35 maps of his own design.  They not only depict how the battles unfolded but also show the battlefields in relationship to modern highways, a helpful feature for anyone planning to visit the sites. This easy-to-read book gives an excellent overview of the major land battles and shows how the war developed along its various fronts. 

• A Short History of the Civil War [originally titled Ordeal by Fire] by Fletcher Pratt  From its opening description of President-elect Lincoln’s arrival in Washington to its closing scene at Appomattox, this book reads like a novel.  In fact, Fletcher Pratt was both a novelist and a historian.  The book, however, is not historical fiction but an example of creative nonfiction, a subgenre that capitalizes on the drama of real events. In this case, Pratt propells his readers through 386 pages by positing personality clashes between major military and political figures as counterpoints to cannonades and rebel yells. Examining the 50 battlefield maps Pratt sprinkles throughout the book does, however, provide readers with some much-needed quiet time.  While this is an engaging one-volume history of the Civil War, it is not a good choice for a novice.  Its pace is fast, and Pratt’s frequent allusions to issues he has not detailed will likely confuse a beginning Civil War scholar. It is a book to look forward to reading once one has achieved a good overview of the war and its major personalities.

• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt  This novel depicts the impact of the Civil War on a southern Illinois farm family split by differing views on the war. You may be surprised by my including a volume of historical fiction intended for upper-elementary students.  However, this Newberry Medal Honor Book has several commendable characteristics.  One is that it presents the war’s history accurately.  Another is that its geographical setting shows the war from a perspective often overlooked by history texts.  Battles fought in the Western and Trans-Mississippi theatres of the war were more significant in leading to the fall of the Confederacy than were the great clashes of the Eastern Theatre.  Also, the guerrilla raids that bloodied Kansas and Missouri deserve notice.  Hunt also shows the effect of the war on civilians whose homes were far removed from any battlefield.  Because the Five Aprils encompass the entire war, I suggest this book is an appropriate first Civil War book for individuals with little prior knowledge of the war, readers who have little interest in military operations,  or those  whose sensibilities make reading about guts and gore difficult.

What you can do:

• Go to your local library or bookstore to examine these books– and others– and find one that appeals to you. 
• If you start reading a book but find that it isn’t meeting your expectations, quit reading it.  Look for another.
• Don’t expect to read most of the books I’ve recommended from cover to cover in a few days.  The Civil War was long and complex; take time to let information sink in before tackling another part of the war. (Across Five Aprils, the short novel, is an exception.)  
• Don’t spend a lot of money for a book until you know you want it for your personal collection.  Use your local library and used bookstores, or go online to sites such as www.amazon.com or www.googlebooks.com to find used books.
• Let me know about other good single-volume histories of the war.