Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Alan_Bernardo

Brent Nosworthy's The Bloody Crucible of Courage is excellent.

Alanb

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ORIGINAL: Crimguy

I put my vote in for Battle Cry of Freedom for what I think is the best one-volume account.

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For video, I think Gettysberg and Gods and Generals are pretty hokey.  Glory is flat, but a good movie nonetheless.  I'll take Ken Burn's Civil War over all of the movies. 

And, of course, the Red Badge of Courage is a classic read.

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ORIGINAL: Drex

What about a book of battle maps? This would be essential. What is available? What about reads on individual battles? I saw the name of Sears on several books about battles. Is Sears any good?

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ORIGINAL: captskillet

For an excellent account of the Army of Northern Virginia during the War you got to read "Lee's Lieutenants : A Study in Command" by Douglas Freeman..........it was written in the 30's but is still considered a standard on the ANV's exploits from Bull Run and Joe Johnston (or what became the ANV) thru Appomattox. It even includes a good account of Stonewalls Valley Campaign. Another good read would be "First With the Most" by Robert Selph Henry about my man Nathan Bedford Forrest (who else )!

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ORIGINAL: Hertston


All three movies are very good, albeit in different ways. Quite how Glory is 'flat', I'm not sure. Gods and Generals is the weakest IMHO, despite a strong performance from Robert Duvall and a superb one from Stephen Lang as Jackson (he was just as good in Gettysburg, as Pickett). It just tries to cover too much ground, while managing to make some of the battle scenes rather longer than was really necessary.

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ORIGINAL: Director

"The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War", Major George B Davis, Leslie J Perry and Joseph W Kirkley.

Includes ordinance survey maps of everything south of the Mason Dixon and west through Texas as well as detailed maps of battlefields and campaigns. interestingly, numerous maps of the same site from different sources are often put side-by-side, allowing you to see what was there and what the commanders [I]thought[/I] was there, which is not the same thing.

It is a gargantuan book, easily two feet tall and hundreds of pages thick. It's occasionally on sale for as little as $30 (STEAL!) and is absolutely invaluable.

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ORIGINAL: Crimguy

I am into Vol. 1 of Foote's Civil War.  He is a great story-teller, and I'm forced to wonder where he got all of his material from - there are no footnotes in my copy.

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LAMB: There are no footnotes and no bibliography.
FOOTE: The subject, after 100 years, is well enough known not to need footnotes, the Civil War. Footnotes are extremely useful to other historians, and I was writing for historians' enjoyment and, I hope, instruction, but mainly I did not want to interrupt this narrative with this bunch of footnotes down at the bottom of the page where your eye leaves the story every now and then to glance down at the footnote. I thought that the footnotes would cost me more artistically than they would gain me in academic respect.

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LAMB: The reason I bring it up is that you also mention in one of your books in your comments at the end that he came out with a bibliography that meant you didn't have to do it.
FOOTE: Right. He and his friend Pete Long published a separate bibliography that covers everything, and I said if you want to know where I got my books, go to Newman's bibliography. That's where I got them.
LAMB: Three hundred and fifty books on the Civil War?
FOOTE: About that number was the working library I had near my desk at all times. I worked from printed sources entirely. I did not get into the archives and dig around among manuscripts.
LAMB: Have you read all those books?
FOOTE: Yes, I had. I read them and read them with pleasure, most of them.

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ORIGINAL: Slick91

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ORIGINAL: Crimguy

I am into Vol. 1 of Foote's Civil War. He is a great story-teller, and I'm forced to wonder where he got all of his material from - there are no footnotes in my copy.

Here is a transcript of an interview with Shelby Foote about this: http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1216

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LAMB: There are no footnotes and no bibliography.
FOOTE: The subject, after 100 years, is well enough known not to need footnotes, the Civil War. Footnotes are extremely useful to other historians, and I was writing for historians' enjoyment and, I hope, instruction, but mainly I did not want to interrupt this narrative with this bunch of footnotes down at the bottom of the page where your eye leaves the story every now and then to glance down at the footnote. I thought that the footnotes would cost me more artistically than they would gain me in academic respect.

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LAMB: The reason I bring it up is that you also mention in one of your books in your comments at the end that he came out with a bibliography that meant you didn't have to do it.
FOOTE: Right. He and his friend Pete Long published a separate bibliography that covers everything, and I said if you want to know where I got my books, go to Newman's bibliography. That's where I got them.
LAMB: Three hundred and fifty books on the Civil War?
FOOTE: About that number was the working library I had near my desk at all times. I worked from printed sources entirely. I did not get into the archives and dig around among manuscripts.
LAMB: Have you read all those books?
FOOTE: Yes, I had. I read them and read them with pleasure, most of them.

Please, go and read the whole interview, it is well worth your time!

By the way, he wrote all of his books with a dip pen, and then typed them out on a typewritter for the publisher.

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ORIGINAL: Crimguy

That is a great find, thanks. He does make the assumption that all of it is known, or well known. I never have taken issue with the details of battle, etc. It's more of the personal anecdotes of Davis et. al. that leave me curious.

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ORIGINAL: captskillet

For an excellent account of the Army of Northern Virginia during the War you got to read "Lee's Lieutenants : A Study in Command" by Douglas Freeman..........it was written in the 30's but is still considered a standard on the ANV's exploits from Bull Run and Joe Johnston (or what became the ANV) thru Appomattox. It even includes a good account of Stonewalls Valley Campaign.