I just finished reading Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South by Christopher Dickey. If you have ever wondered what kept the British from officially recognizing the Confederacy, this book will provide the answer. The Confederacy tried every trick in the book to get France and Britain to provide official recognition of it as a nation, but was never able to do so. France wanted to, but would not do so unless Britain took the lead. Why the British didn't is pretty much explained in this book, along with numerous other political and economic analyses many history books of this period do not cover.

At its heart was a small time British counsel, Robert Bunch, who played both sides: pretending to support southern slave views in Charleston, while providing the British Foreign Office with all the information it needed to deny official recognition of the Confederacy. He did so at the risk of his life and that of his family. He did it so well, Union Secretary of State Seward did everything in his power to destroy Bunch and his career, unaware that Bunch was one of the Union government's best allies in the international political war between the Union and the Confederacy.

The Long Surrender by Burke Davis. a page turner. very good history. book opens with the fall of Richmond in April 1865. follows Jefferson Davis from this point until his death. Mostly about his movements through the south until his capture, then imprisonment, and later life after.

My personal opinion is any Civil War history book by Dr. James McPherson, the "Dean of Civil War History,"  is a "must read."  Others may disagree.

If you ever wondered how the mythology of the "Lost Cause" emerged and became a bulwalk of Southern reasoning, then you need to read The Making of a Confederate by William Barney. The 245 pages of the book sound like it might be a long read, but the hardback is only seven inches high and five inches wide. My copy now has a place on my Civil War bookshelf.

I just finished reading Chattanooga---A Death Grip on the Confederacy by James Lee McDonough. The books presents the best, and very readable, description of the campaign and the individual battles which led to the final assault---without orders---of the Army of the Cumberland up the steep slope of Missionary Ridge, resulting in one of the few times a Confederate army fled the field of battle in a rout.

Such an unusual movement by an entire Union army led to various legends we see repeated in numerous books. The author describes what really happened and why the Confederates were not able to repluse the assault. If you are interested in the Civil War in the West, you need to read this book.

So, what do you do when you lose a war and you know many of the people on the other side are really looking forward to punishing you? The only man who could have prevented this is dead, killed by an idiot who acted without your knowledge. Basically, you run!

Flight Into Oblivion describes, in interesting detail, the actions of the major players of the Confederate goverment from the evacation of Richmond to months after the war was over.

As I state in my review of One War at a Time by Dean Mahin, if you are interested in the Civil War beyond the battlefield, then this book is a must read about Lincoln's handling of interational diplomacy.

Okay, here is another good read about a part of Civil War history you won't find in many other books.  It's about the development of the telegraph and President Lincoln's use of it.

Mr Lincoln's T-Mails : How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War

Just finished another one. This one is about the late-1864 March to the Sea by two Union armies under Sherman.  If anything proved to the Confederacy that the War was lost, this was it. After this event, only the Confederate soldiers still had hope. The civilians had none. Desertions in the Confederate armies increased as their familes, no longer supporting the war, wrote letters to their men telling them to come home. As usual, see my review on the book's page.

Southern Storm : Sherman's March to the Sea.

I just finished reading The Civil War Infantryman : In Camp, on the March, and in Battle. In some ways I found it repetitive of all the books I've read on this period. However, I also realized it condensed into one book much of the knowledge I've gained by reading hundreds of Civil War books. While it will never replace all those hundreds for me, for many others who aren't fascinated by this period and who aren't willing to read those books, it is a great exposure to the men who fought in that war.

So, it's been several months since I've recommended a book. As I, like many of you, have been house-bound, I've read a bunch of Civil War books in this time. Here's one I especially enjoyed. As I state in my reivew, the 423 pages of text teach you more about the end of the war than several dozen other Civil war books do. Plus, it is an enjoyable read. The author does jump around some, but then a lot was happening in this short period. Plus, he doesn't wax long over events covered better in detail in other books.  For example, he doesn't spend a lot of time covering Lincoln's assassination.

Out of the Storm : The End of the Ciivl War, April-June 1865

I just finished The New York City Draft Riots by Berstein and wanted to warn anyone who might come across a copy of this book. You will probaby not like it. I certainly didn't.  See my review.

I was writing a long review of another Civil War book on that book's page, when the PBS site hiccuped and I lost it all. So I'm not in the mood to write another long one. But It's been five months since I recommended a book in this thread. So I just want to quickly reccommend a very important book every Civil War buff should read. 

Starving the South by Andrew Smith is an easy, entertaining and very important read which explains one of the major reasons why the South lost the war.

Of all the books on the Civil War I've read, this is one of those I've remembered the most. Today I saw it included on my Daily Digest. if you haven't read it, you should.

Mother, May You Never See the Sights I've Seen

If you believe, as I do, that you can't understand the Civil War unless you also understand the social and economic aspects of its beginnings, then you should read Clash of Extremes : The Economic Origins of the Civil War. While not for someone who has only a general interest in the war, as they might consider some chapters boring, the author does a good job in explaining the economic and political ties between and within regions of the country, and how they changed from the 1840s onward.

The link goes to my review.

The book took me a long time to finish, as I only read it while sitting on the back porch of a 19th century homestead in Florida's Dudley Farm Historic State Park---a National Historic Landmark. I read it between doing farm chores and guiding visitors about. As a reward for finishing this book, I'm now starting a book which covers Civil War soldiers and the alcohol they drank.

If you really want to be an expert on the Civil War, you need to know more about the War than just the military aspects. If you're not willing to read dozens of other books on the non-military aspects, then read The People's Contest, a 393-pager by Philip Shaw Paludan. The book's title links to its page and my review.

This book was "Chosen by Civil War magazine as one of the 200 best books on the war."  No argument from me.

Here is another good one by William Davis, A Taste for War. It's a book entirely about the food the soldiers on both sides ate and how they tried to cook it to make it somewhat palatable. As usual, the link goes to the books page and my review.

Okay, I've got a winner for you this time:  General Lee's Army : From Victory to Collapse by Joseph T. Glatthaar, a well-respected Civil War historian. You can see my long review by clicking on the book' s title.

But before you go there, here is a quote I've had on my desk, under a clear blotter, for most of my life.

"The foundations of military knowledge are not strategy and tactics as most people think, but the knowledge of the principles and practice of military movement and administration---the logistics of war.

"Thus we find that armies in the field in the prosecution of war, having all else---men, munitions, money and training---but lacking TRANSPORT, can accomplish almost nothing."  --- Sir Archibald Wavell, British Field Marshal

Here's another really good one. In fact, to understand why the South lost, you really only need to read two chapters. The link goes to the book's page and my review.

Attack and Die : Civil War Tactics and the Southern Heritage

Here is another good one, but with some flaws. Still there was a lot in it I found instructive, if not fascinating. Click on the title for my review.

High Tide at Gettysburg

It's a joy to read a really good book on the War. And this one, which I just finished, was great reading.

The Fall of the House of Dixie

I've been lucky this month as I just finished another excellent book on the Civil War, this time on the Battle of Gettysburg. As a I state in my review:

"After you've read a few books on the Battle of Gettysburg, and I've read more than a few, you wonder if you should read any more. I'm glad I took a good friend's advice and read this one, as I really enjoyed it."

The book is aptly titled Witness to Gettysburg, as most of the text in the book---after the first quarter or so---is by the soldiers who fought there on those three days. What really puts this book over the top is the amount of narrative from the residents of Gettysburg.

I'd like to reccomend one of the best books I've ever read which tells the truth about the internal disaster the Southern Confederacy was. It is Look Away!, by William Davis, a prominent Civil War historian. Basically, Davis shows how the Confederacy was created to serve the elite in the South, a "planter class" used to running their states , and often the U.S. government, the way they wanted it to be run, for their benefit. As a result, as Davis points out again and again and again how the ruling class of  the Confederacy didn't give a damn for the rights of the common citizen. And the military often ignored civil authorities and their laws. In the end, civil order just collapsed.  I've often wondered if the South had successfully seceded, if that wouldn't have happened anyway.

It is not an easy book to read, as I found I couldn't speed through it. But it was certainly enlightening. As usual, the link above goes to the book's page and my review.

It's been several months since I've recommended---or flamed---a CW book, but the one I just finished is excellent. I won't tell you it is an easy book to read, as it took me a long time to get through it. I'm not completely sure why, but while I had this one opened, I must have gone through a dozen or more other books.

Like Men of War : Black Troops in the Civil War 1862-1865

The link above goes to the book's page and my review.

Rites of Retaliation : Civilization, Soldiers and Campaigns in the American Civil War is by Lorien Foote. She is the Patricia & Bookman Peters Professor of History at Texas A&M.  It was published in 2021 and was awarded the 2022 Organization of American Historians Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award.

Basically it covers a subject most people would like to ignore, how POWs were treated by the other side.